OGDEN — It’s not been a secret — the Ogden City Police Department has been seeing a recruiting boom lately, especially amongst lateral hires.

Since Nov. 2024, the city has seen 24 new officers from across the country sworn in, according to Ogden Chief of Police Jake Sube.

“To say I’m excited doesn’t do it justice,” he said. “The reality is we try to create a culture and an environment at OPD that drives officers to want to be a part of it, to be a part of something. That doesn’t mean you just come out here and do whatever you want to do. There’s accountability in what we expect. We expect hard work. Every officer that sits down that sits down in front of us for an interview, we explain to them we value productivity, we value hard work, we value the Ogden Way — grit, drive. You have to commit to those things to be a part of our organization.”

He said the department also strives to let all officers know that they are valued members of the team.

“I thank every officer that works for Ogden PD for choosing Ogden PD,” he said. “In the environment we’re in, officers can choose. That’s the reality. They can pick and choose where they want to go, because if they’re hunting the dollar, there’s plenty of openings out there for them to go take. We’re competitive there, thankfully, but we’re not the top. But we’re creating an environment where people want to be a part of what we’re creating, and we’ve really driven that message home over the last year.”

Sube noted that, as of Tuesday, the Ogden Police Department has grown to 159 sworn officers.

He said one of the biggest factors behind this success has been having a mayor and a City Council that have been exceptionally supportive of the police department and its goals.

“A lot of conversations I have with the officers that are applying … part of what they talk about is the mayor’s support of the police department and what we’re doing, what we’re doing in our community, the City Council’s support — not just in pay,” Sube said. “They’ve supported us over multiple years making sure that we remain competitive.”

Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said that support and accountability of the police department and its sworn officers go hand-in-hand in this city.

“(Support) doesn’t mean hiring anybody and everybody, letting them do whatever they want and having their back if they do something wrong — that’s not what this is,” he said. “It’s about setting an expectation, a standard that’s high. That standard is that we are an organization that achieves high performance and that every day we show up. We expect you to bring your best self. But we are also trying to create a community where you get to become, build and drive to be better.”

He added that he asks all officers to answer and adhere to one of America’s founding documents.

“The Constitution is not partisan — it is the framework that brought us to this point as a country,” he said. “It’s the framework that protects individual rights and freedoms, and that’s what this police department needs to be focused on every day. I make a promise to every officer. I say, ‘I will not politicize you. You make a promise to me that you will follow the Constitution.’ Because the Constitution sets the framework for law. Law sets the framework for policy. Policy sets the framework for training. Training sets the framework for instincts, and when they are in those moments, I don’t want my officers thinking about me or how I’m going to respond in the headlines. I need them to be in the moment.”

To help continue the department’s momentum into the future, Sube said they’re making more of an effort to highlight its past.

“Ogden City is an old, historic police department, but if you walk through the halls of the Ogden Police Department right now, it’s white walls, there’s no history, there’s nothing,” he said. “You’ve got an HR minimum wage form on a poster. What does that tell anybody? What are they a part of? What legacy are they a part of? I want them to understand that when they come to Ogden, you are a part of a legacy.”

He said that the department has hired a part-time staffer to research the department’s history and that the goal is to fill the hallways with memorabilia from the department’s past along with articles, photos and other historical markers. This comes on the heels of the department’s decision to return to an older badge model earlier this year.

“I want them to understand that you’re a part of something bigger,” Sube said. “You’re not a number in an organization that’s going to come and go. You’re a part of this community forever.”

He added that, ultimately, continuing the department’s momentum comes down to continuing what’s worked and striving to be better.

“I think it’s taking all of our successes and not letting them be an accident,” he said. “It’s about being in a constant state of improving, a constant state of always trying to be better than we were the day before in what we did.”