First in a series.
Hope Police Officer Daniel Oller was recently honored by the Hope Rotary Club for his work as a corporal in the Hope Police Department. Oller is the canine officer for the police department; is a field training officer and is the handler for Jett, a German Shepherd imported from Czechloslovakia.
Oller always wanted to be in law enforcement and his boyhood dream has come true, but not without a lot of hard work.
Oller grew up in Blevins and graduated from Blevins High School in 1997. When he went to the police academy in 2005 and took three months of training and field training operations, he had already worked as a supervisor at Tyson Foods and had been in the U. S. Army.
Oller worked as a Basic Training Instructor, teaching recruits first aid, biological warfare, weapons, marksmanship, and much more.
“I was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and at Fort Lewis, Washington,” he said. “I got out of the Army in 2007.”
Jett, the canine officer, stays at Oller’s home and the two train together.
“He’s eight years old and he is trained to find heroin, crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, marijuana, and meth” Oller said. “The biggest amount of drug money we have found in one bust is $14,178, and the most drugs we have found in one bust is one pound of marijuana.
“Having a dope dog is a tough job with a lot of work involved,” Oller said. “You wouldn’t think that there is that much training and work involved, but you have to work with the dog daily to keep him on top of things. He’s a good dog.”
The best part of the job for Oller, besides Jett, is that the job always offers something different.
“There is never a routine, it’s a challenge. I’m satisfied to know that I’ve helped. The worst aspect of the job is the loss I see everyday. It’s tough not to let those types of things get to you, but you can’t give up or give in,” he said.
Oller and his wife, Jessica, have a three-year-old son, Carson.
