Clallam County Sheriff’s Office photo

Former Forks Police Department officer Gene Hoagland was sworn in as a Clallam County Deputy Sheriff on Wednesday, Aug. 1 by Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict. The swearing-in took place in the Clallam County District II Courtroom located within Forks City Hall.

A report from the Sheriff’s Office states: "Deputy Gene Hoagland and his wife Paula have been residents of the City of Forks for five years. Deputy Hoagland is no stranger to law enforcement or the West End of Clallam County having worked that last five years as a City of Forks Police Officer and three years as a Reserve Port Angeles Police Officer prior to that. Deputy Hoagland comes to the Sheriff’s Office fully trained and already familiar with the citizen’s and area on the West End of the county."

Hoagland is a 1987 graduate of Port Angeles High School and served in the U.S. Army as a field medic after his graduation, and has attended Peninsula College. 

Benedict said Hoagland’s familiarity with the West End and its people will reduces the cost of training and will speed up Hoagland’s being put on patrol out of the sheriff’s office West End station located in the former Forest Service building east of Forks.

Hoagland is scheduled to undergo about six weeks of Sheriff’s Office field training to familiarize himself with department policy and procedures before beginning patrols on his own. The usual training for a new, untrained deputy is about 33 weeks, Benedict said.