By Kevin Killough, Powell Tribune

The Powell Police Department swore in a graduate of Powell High School as its newest recruit last week.

Sean Alquist is originally from Kentucky, but he grew up with a fondness for the Big Horn Basin. His parents owned a cabin on the North Fork, and they’d spend summer vacations in the area.

When Alquist was 15, his family moved into a house they built in the Heart Mountain area, and he began attending school in Powell. He graduated from Powell High School in 2009.

A career in law enforcement was a goal from a young age. Alquist said a lot of his interest came from his experience in Boy Scouts. He started out in Webelos and worked his way up to the rank of Eagle Scout.

Shortly after high school, he joined the Greybull Police Department, where he worked for two years. He said he enjoyed working as a police officer, but felt he needed to serve his country.

“My brother is career military, and I always wanted to serve,” he said.

He joined the Army’s Airborne Infantry and was stationed in Italy. He was 25 at the time.

“Italy was gorgeous,” he said.

Alquist helped train NATO forces from countries such as Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia.

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As much as he was enjoying his military service, he said law enforcement was always calling him back.

“I missed it every single day. I enjoyed the Army, but I missed law enforcement,” Alquist recalled.

After his service was complete, he moved back to Powell with plans to make a life here. His wife is from Burlington, and he thought small town life was best for his daughter.

“Powell was a no brainer for us. We wanted our daughter to be raised in an environment like this,” he said.

Fortunately enough, the police department had positions available. Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt said they were happy a PHS graduate put his name in for the position. Eckerdt said they were aware Alquist had interest in the position, but his availability was limited by his obligations to the military. Everything finally did come together so Alquist could join the force this month.

“It was good it worked out for him and us,” the chief said.

Eckerdt said another officer is joining the force in the first week of August, at which time they will have all their patrol positions filled.

After being out of law enforcement for a few years, Alquist has some training to do before he’ll be doing patrols, but said he’s really happy to be back home working in the career he loves.

“You deal with someone at the worst time in their life, and you get to help them,” Alquist said. “It’s what I always wanted to do.”