Warren

Warren

NEWTON GROVE — The ability to serve and protect in Newton Grove was strengthened Monday night as a new member, Alan Blanchard, was added to the ranks of the town’s police department.

Blanchard joined the town’s law enforcement members that night after taking his oath and being sworn in by Mayor Craig Warren during the town board’s first meeting of 2025.

Usually offering more of a stoic persona, Blanchard is one who, “doesn’t talk much,” offered Greg Warren, chief of police, in talking about the new officer with town board members. True to his chief’s description,the new officer’s only words were those he recited during his oath.

But Warren had more than enough to say about bringing Blanchard in as a new officer.

“We’re tickled to death in bringing him on board,” Warren told the Newton Grove board. “Alan, I’ve known him for several years, probably since I’ve been here, (and I came) in early 2019. That’s when I met him. I know his work on the road and what kind of job he did back then, and we’re just glad to have him.”

Not only does Blanchard’s addition bring a seasoned officer to the force, it also adds a homegrown serviceman who is a part of the Newton Grove community, the chief noted.

“Him being with us now makes him closer to home. He didn’t lived too far from Newton Grove and grew up around this area, he even went to Hobbton High School,” Warren said. “He spent a little bit of time in the military as well. He’s just a great, young, motivated officer and has really done wonders the past two weeks of us having him here.”

Warren noted that Blanchard fills the vacancy left at the department when a former officer stepped into a part-time position. During the search to fill that void, three candidates were on Warren’s radar, and his choice was Blanchard.

Newton Grove has two full-time and five part-time officers on the force.

“Recently, what happened is we had another full-time officer step down from full-time, so we started to kind of look and see what was out there and that type thing,” Warren explained. “Then he (Blanchard) reached out to me one day, and during that time I ended up having three great candidates for the position. It ended up being one of those situations that I went with who I felt was best.”

That familiarity with Sampson County is also backed by years of experience, Warren noted.

“He’s got seven years experience and most of it’s here in Sampson County,” the chief said. “We’ve taken him to Clinton so he’s done all those processes which I knew he was familiar with. That was an added bonus for us hiring him because I knew he knew our system. We work very closely with the Sheriff’s Office and Clinton Police Department, and he fits right into all that. He’ll do an abbreviated training because he has been here in our system in Sampson County and the court systems and all that.”

That decision, Warren said, was a great call as Blanchard hit the ground running from the onset, which, he said, had provided him much needed help.

“We really needed somebody else. As many know, I’m a very active chief; I’m out there answering calls, running radar, doing that type of thing,” he said. “I need some help on the roads, and he (Blanchard) has literally hit the ground running, although he tells me I talk too much.

“I’ll say to him while we’re out, stop the car, I need to go see how such and such is doing, and 20 minutes later, he’s like, are you ready to go? I’ve already let four cars go,” Warren added laughingly. “Jokes aside, he really knows the system and knows Samson County very well, I mean, he’s already made several arrest in town.”

“I’m just looking forward to having somebody good to work with to add to our team of guys and girls that are on the auxiliary and we’re just looking forward to having a go-getter,” he added.

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.