Two new officers have just joined the Plainsboro Police Department and an additional two officers are expected later in the year.
Patrol officers Darby O’Brien of Hillsborough and Brandon Ullom of South Plainfield took their oath at the Township Committee meeting February 11. Brett Olma of Monroe was promoted from administrative corporal to patrol sergeant as well.
O’Brien and Ullom were selected from a pool of 400 applicants and graduated from the Monmouth Police Academy in December.
The department’s officer total is now 33. Two more officers are expected to join in 2015. Conditional offers have been made to William Atkinson of Bayville and Justin Kowalczyk of Hamilton. Both will attend the Mercer County Police Academy. Lieutenant John Bresnen says the department is at full strength at 36 officers.
Ullom is the first in the family to become a police officer. His father is in sales and his mother is a nurse. He attended York College of Pennsylvania, majoring in criminal justice.
“I knew I wanted to be a cop as soon as I got into criminal justice,” says Ullom, who previously served as a seasonal police officer in Ocean City, Maryland. “A career where you helped people was really appealing to me.”
O’Brien also says he enjoys the service aspect. “I always wanted to do it as a kid. I like being there when somebody needs you, they have nobody else to turn to.”
O’Brien grew up in Montgomery Township and majored in criminal justice at the University of Hartford. His father owns a construction business and his mother works in human resources at Princeton University.
A member of the national guard since 2010, O’Brien is currently a first lieutenant in the New Jersey national guard. He heads to Fort Dix one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer for training. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, he happened to be training in Georgia.
Aside from some tactical similarities such as entering and securing a building, O’Brien says military service and municipal policing are completely different realms.
“In the military, being an officer, I plan missions, I have time to think,” O’Brien says. “Being a police officer, the community caretaking aspect is completely different. Answering calls, making decisions on the fly, it takes a lot more thinking on your feet.”
