One of the Pullman Police Department’s new officers will be living in Pullman for the first time; the other is returning to his hometown.

Steven Perez and Joshua Bray were sworn in Dec. 18, 2014, and will hit the streets by the end of this coming summer.

Perez grew up in Zillah, a small town in Yakima County, and will fill a police officer vacancy. The Pullman Police Department announced the vacancy and started recruiting a year ago, Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said.

Perez attended California Lutheran University and transferred to Eastern Oregon University. He played football at both schools and pursued a degree in biology.

However, his stepfather is the chief of the Zillah Police Department, so Perez always had a career in law enforcement in the back of his mind.

“I grew up around it since I was 7,” Perez said. “So it seemed like kind of the thing to do.”

He has worked as a corrections officer for the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Department since July 2013.

“(Perez) definitely has a strong desire to serve the public,” Jenkins said. “He’s very committed to a law enforcement career, he has excellent communication skills, and he seems to be a person of integrity and that’s what we look for in an officer.”

Bray graduated from Pullman High School’s class of 1999 and will fill a new police officer position approved in November by the Pullman City Council.

The police department had not grown in size since 2001, Jenkins said, but the city population increased by 28 percent in that same time. With the addition of Perez and Bray, 29 officers now serve the Pullman community.

It’s more difficult to meet the expectations of the community with that difference, Jenkins said.

“(Bray) grew up in Pullman, he’s a local guy who, after high school, moved away for a while,” Jenkins said. “He has a lot of dedication to the community.”

Bray attended Oregon State University for four years, studying sociology. He said his interest in law enforcement was very recent.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I did fire and EMS for a while,” he said, crediting some friends he made playing pick-up basketball with getting him interested in working as a reserve firefighter and paramedic.

Bray and his wife most recently lived in Phoenix, but he said they decided they didn’t want to raise their two children there.

“I am looking forward to being back (in Pullman) and settling down with the family,” Bray said. 

Both new officers began training last week at the Washington State Basic Law Enforcement Academy in Spokane.

“It’s like boot camp for law enforcement,” Jenkins said. “They will learn Washington laws, tactics, how to handle a firearm, they’ll learn really just the basic principles of being a police officer.”

Training in Spokane will prepare the officers to return to Pullman, where they will train locally for about four months, allowing them to put what they learn at the police academy to use in the area.

“We all share a common mission, (but) every department has its own way, its own procedures and practices that fit best in their communities,” Jenkins said.

Perez and Bray both said they are excited – yet still a bit nervous – to begin training.

Once training is over, Perez said he hopes to “establish a good rapport” with students in the college town.

“We’re really glad to get back up to full strength and excited that we’re actually adding an officer,” Jenkins said. “I feel really fortunate that we found two really high quality officers to add (to the force).”