Columbia Falls welcomes two new police officers

There are two new officers at the Columbia Falls Police Department and one of them should be a familiar face to many residents.

Brandon Rice and Christine Herman joined the force on June 10 and are already patrolling the streets.

Rice was born and raised in Columbia Falls and, until his move to the police department, had been a fifth-grade teacher at Ruder Elementary. Rice also taught driver’s education and was the coach of the junior varsity boys basketball and froshmore football teams.

While Rice said he enjoyed teaching, he said that law enforcement has always been an interest of his.

“As I was finishing up my education in elementary education, I was really starting to get involved in thinking about law enforcement and my wife told me to finish school first. So I did finish up, taught school for a few years and enjoyed it, but this opportunity came up and I thought it was perfect,” Rice said. “I’ve been interested in law enforcement for a while and I just thought it was a different way to serve the community. I have a lot of friends in law enforcement and I was interested in it and I thought I would give it a try.”

While the leap from elementary education to law enforcement may seem difficult, Rice says there are many aspects that translate well from one job to the other.

“Being able to talk with people and to educate them on what they did wrong or things like that, those kind of things are familiar. I think there is a lot that translates,” he said. “I think that just being able to talk to people is a huge part of this job and you have to be able to do it in a respectful manner. It worked well in my teaching and it has worked well with the public in my new job.”

For Herman, Columbia Falls is a long way from her childhood home of Ohio, Florida. After moving with her family to California, she watched as her brothers joined the law enforcement community and decided to give it a try herself. After graduating from the police academy in California, she said it was difficult beating out experienced officers for jobs there.

Not satisfied with California, Herman decided to make a change.

“I always wanted to live in Montana, so I looked on the map and picked Kalispell,” she said.

Herman said she has stayed close to law enforcement over the past 12 years, whether it was volunteering, working at the academy or helping the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office with warrants. In fact, getting away from law enforcement would be tough, considering she is married to a Montana Highway Patrol officer.

“It has been a huge learning experience, fascinating and a lot of fun so far,” she said. “I especially enjoyed helping someone recover a stolen vehicle from a routine traffic stop, but learning my way around town has been somewhat difficult. Thankfully, it’s a small town, so there is not too much to learn.”

Both officers are currently in their second phase of training and should graduate to solo duty soon.