PLAINS - The town of Plains has hired a new Patrol Officer. Randy Cavalea will begin patrolling the streets of Plains starting this week.

After completing Plains’ application process, including a physical test, written test, multiple interviews, and a review by Mayor Greg Eitelberg, Captain Sean Emmett, and the town council, Cavalea was hired at the end of March. He is now in the process of moving to Plains and settling into his new community.

Cavalea’s history includes, a Bachelors Science degree in General Engineering from Montana Tech, four years in the US Army, and he completed the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in 2012. In the Army, Cavalea finished with two campaign stars, an army commendation medal, an army achievement medal, an army good conduct medal, a national defense medal, a global war on terrorism service medal, and a noncommissioned officer professional development ribbon and the army service ribbon.

“I have already lived in Western Montana and I’ve been wanting to come back to Western Montana for a while,” said Cavalea. He explained that in addition to his love of Western Montana, he wants to live in a community such as Plains for its appeal. “One of the primary things is that I am able to connect better with people in a smaller community and with a smaller department.”

While working for the Fergus County Sheriff’s Department, Cavalea felt that the department was too large to create connections, and he also felt that in the communities he worked in, there were certain impossibilities with the job. “My number one objective is I want to be a part of a community that wants to remain clean... I want to be a part of keeping [it] clean,” Cavalea said. He went on to say that in his last job it felt like the community did not want to end the drug problem, but that Plains, which has a low drug problem, is a place that wants to work to remain “clean.”

“Everybody has been very welcoming,” Cavalea said. He said that with that connection he knows he can work with this type of community to keep it the type of community he loves and admires.

Mayor Eitelberg said he and Captain Emmett are very excited to have Cavalea on the force. “We are extremely lucky to get him,” said Mayor Eitleberg, adding, “We typically don’t get those type of applications here.”

There will be a one year probation period for Cavalea with the Plains Police Department. In that time, if the Mayor and or Captain Emmit do not see Cavalea as a good pick, they can relieve him of duty. However, both Mayor Eitelberg and Captain Emmett both agreed that they have good feelings about him.