Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Two Nederland Police Department officers were officially sworn in by Nederland Municipal Judge David Gloss on Saturday morning. David Stage and Troy Tomasko are now official and they both received the NPD badges they will wear as part of their uniform.

Town officials and other NPD officers attended the swearing in ceremony, which is the formal induction into their position. Tomasko is a part-time officer and Stage is a full-time officer.

Officer Tomasko is a Colorado native who grew up in Denver attending schools in Golden and Columbine. He spent 14 years working in the family construction business, but said he was always interested in becoming a police officer. In 2012, he made his move, beginning his career in the Grand County Sheriff’s detention center and then went on to Grand County patrol.

Looking for something closer to his home in Jefferson County, he applied for the Nederland position and was hired. He says he loves the mountains, the working environment and the fact that you never know what’s going to happen each day. He likes to hunt and fish and spend time with his newborn child.

Officer Stage grew up in Iowa, where he was a high school wrestler. When he graduated from high school in 2004, he joined the marines and became a maintenance manager. In 2006 he was deployed to Iraq. In 2012, his wife Monique’s grandmother had a stroke, and while Monique was in school, David took care of her.

Monique studied nutritional science in Jacksonville, Florida and looked forward to helping people get healthy. After her grandmother died, Monique took a position as a traveling nurse.

Stage finished his associate’s degree, thinking that he liked what he did in the Marines, and looked into becoming a police officer.

He liked serving others and helping people. It was the closest thing to the military without being deployed, and his wife was in favor of it.

On a flight to Florida to visit friends, he met a police officer from Arvada who talked to him about becoming an officer. At that time, Monique’s next assignment was in Denver and Stage decided to apply to the Red Rocks Police Academy. He graduated last May and began his search for a job. Someone told him that a position in Nederland was open and he applied in September.

After three weeks on the job, Stage says he likes the atmosphere. “Everyone says hello to me, and we are not rushed.” Monique is glad her husband is happy. The couple will be moving to Boulder at the end of the month, when she will begin training to be nurse practitioner.

Nederland Police Department Chief Paul Carrill welcomed both men into the department and said he looks forward to working with them.