Three months ago, Philomath native Conor Ringwald’s path in law enforcement entered a new phase when he first put on the uniform of his hometown police department. Starting the job in early November, it had taken less than three years for him to reach an important career goal.
Ringwald, 26, said he feels a special connection to the community. His family moved to the area when he was around 2 years old and he completed every grade in the Philomath school system, graduating with the Class of 2017.
Even after college when he worked for the Toledo Police Department, Ringwald maintained a residence in Philomath and made the 80-mile round-trip drive for each shift.
But now, he’s home.
“I was originally planning on going to college for medicine,” Ringwald said last week after completing a 12-hour overnight shift. “I was wanting to go into the medical field and become a doctor. Partway through that, I kind of realized I didn’t want to go to school that much longer .. I wanted to start working.”
Ringwald, son of Steven and Jennifer Ringwald, said he looked at a couple of different career paths but his thinking eventually trended toward law enforcement. It was a job that he had thought about on a few occasions growing up and he had a grandfather who was in the reserves for a short time in Grants Pass years ago. Overall, it was the variety of the job that appealed to him most.
“I just didn’t want to be stuck in a hospital and in the same spot every day and not really getting to go out and do other stuff,” he said.
Ringwald earned a degree in biology from Oregon State University in 2021. After graduating, he started to look around at different law enforcement agencies. In less than a year, he landed a job with the Toledo Police Department.
Ringwald worked at Toledo for about 2-1/2 years. Not long after starting the job, he went on a ride-along with Philomath Police’s Brandon Thurman.
“He explained a lot to me and I liked what I heard and I started looking to do a little bit more,” Ringwald said. “I wasn’t quite ready to leave Toledo yet just because I was still somewhat new there and felt kind of bad leaving.”
Some more time passed and then Ringwald met with Chief of Police Dave Gurski and Thurman to ask questions. That led to him putting in his application.
Becoming a police officer in Philomath, he said, was always sort of the plan.
“I wasn’t expecting to come back this soon but that drag (to your hometown) gets to you,” he said. “I think it was good starting in Toledo — it’s a smaller agency than here so I got a lot of good training opportunities that I wouldn’t necessarily get if I was brand new anywhere else.”
Gurski said Ringwald’s move to Philomath worked well.
“He’s a local kid, very mature and responsible,” Gurski said. “He’s a lateral so that saves us the time of sending him to the academy and running through the field training program.”
The hiring process with the training and academy components can take almost a full year for new hires to complete and reach the level of being able to work solo.
But Ringwald brought that valuable training with him to Philomath.
“It expedited that process with him having been a solo police officer for about 2-1/2 years at Toledo,” Gurski said. “Not only that, but he’s got a good understanding for the community, the geography. There’s just a lot of bonuses or perks with having someone that’s grown up here.”
As most youth in Philomath, Ringwald remembers interactions with the police department through special events and school visits. He recalled the annual bike rodeo with now-retired Ofc. Mark Koeppe and also classroom presentations by Gurski.
As for the future, Ringwald still has a lot of time to figure out what he ultimately wants to do. He did mention an affinity for instruction.
“Over in Toledo, I got the opportunity to be trained to be their Taser instructor and firearms instructor,” he said. “Being it was such a small agency, I was the only one doing it over there, so that’s probably what I enjoy the most aside from the job itself — just taking what I’ve learned and being able to teach others.”
Elsewhere on the Philomath PD staff, new hire Stephen Arnst is currently going through training in the 16-week police academy program. Gurski said he should be through in March.
The city last year approved the addition of an officer on the police department’s staff but it has remained vacant. Gurski said last week that the current plan was to open up the position Feb. 1.
“The 10th position will give us one extra as far as double coverage on the shift,” Gurski said.
To explain, Philomath Police currently has Thurman as the day shift sergeant and Blake Bowers as the graveyard shift sergeant. When fully staffed, three officers will be available for each of those shifts. The new position, Gurski said, would give the department some latitude for special projects or whatever other important needs arise.