Here’s why Pocatello PD Officer Kevin Nielsen has the ‘best job in the department’
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EDITOR’S NOTE:This story is part of a five-part series examining the lives of law enforcement and emergency responders in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area.
POCATELLO — Kevin Nielsen is a second-generation cop. And as a school resource officer, he toes the line between officer, coach, role model and, at times, teacher.
“For me, it’s the best job in the department,” he said. “You can be that force that changes a child for good and that has a lasting effect for the rest of their life. That’s a win.”
Nielsen, 40, has spent nearly 20 years as a peace officer, the last 16-plus with the Pocatello Police Department. Now in his second year as a school resource officer, he uses his wealth of knowledge, know-how and love of distance sports to connect with the students he is tasked with aiding and protecting.
The son of retired Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen, Kevin grew up seeing admiration others had for his father. He can still remember going out to dinner or grocery shopping and having strangers stop his father to thank him for his service.
“He was always my hero,” Kevin said of his father. “He’s a good man and always the type of person I wanted to be like growing up.”
Still, the younger Nielsen didn’t consider joining the force early on.
Instead, he went to Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho) to pursue a career in computer programming — until he decided that he and computers were unable to form a working relationship, that is.
After some urging from his father, Kevin went on a ride-along with Idaho State Police trooper Robert Rausch. By the end of a long night, one that included a high-speed chase, he was hooked and ready to follow his father’s lead in to a life of service.
Kevin switched his majors and eventually earned a master’s degree in criminology.
Nielsen spent two and a half years as a Madison County detention deputy before becoming a patrol officer in Pocatello. And after eight years as a D.A.R.E. officer, he further continued the path set before him by his father, who, long before becoming the Bannock County sheriff, was an SRO at Marsh Valley Middle School. After more than one year working at Alameda and Hawthorne Middle Schools, Kevin recently took over the post at Century High School.
“When we’re on patrol, our focus is on what’s in the best interest of protecting society,” he said. “When we’re in the schools, we focus on what’s in the best interest of the child — how can I help this child?”
And he goes above and beyond in helping the children.
Nielsen coaches cross country, something he has long had a passion for, at Alameda Middle School. Not only does this help him develop a rapport with students, but it also gives him opportunities to teach life lessons.
An end-of-the-year activity he does with the cross country team is called “Death Mountain.” A five-mile run from campus to the water tower above Monte Vista, he said, is a competition not between the individuals, but between each individual and the mountain. It is difficult, he admits, but it teaches the 11- to 14-year-olds that the accomplishment is worth the work.
“If you can conquer that mountain, you can conquer other challenges in life,” he tells them.
Alameda Principal Brandon Vaughan said Nielsen’s work with the cross country team is unique. He says he knows of just one other past SRO who had taken action within the school’s extra-curricular activities.
Vaughan also noted Nielsen’s visibility and interactivity with the students, saying that he is regularly wandering the halls during passing time or recesses and lunch. If the students are in the hallways, Nielsen is there, giving out high-fives and mingling with students.
“My experience with Officer Nielsen has always been positive,” Vaughan said. “He is, it’s hard to explain, he’s just so good at what he does. Everything he does, he does it the way it’s supposed to be done. … He is the perfect guy to be in this position.”
More than a cop and a coach, Nielsen also gladly steps into a teacher’s shoes from time to time, be it for a class of middle schoolers, high schoolers, or teachers and administrators. The veteran officer often instructs classes of school faculty on crime prevention.
But he also goes one step further, teaching a crime prevention class to new and future officers enrolled in Idaho State University’s Law Enforcement Program.
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“He’s good,” program director Lynn Case said of Nielsen. “He does a lot of hands-on training. Crime prevention, it’s not the most exciting (class), but he’s got enough hands-on material that he makes it entertaining and educational at the same time.”
That is just what Nielsen does and how he goes about it. He drives his patrol vehicle to school every morning, intent on being a tool for change, helping guide local children safely though their day while aiding their path to success.
If he runs five miles to the peak of Monte Vista, he does it while encouraging youngsters.
If he teaches a class of students, teachers or fellow officers how to recognize and prevent crime, he does it in the best way he knows how.
That is the job he loves.
“The thing I enjoy most about my job: You’re kind of the modern-day super hero,” he told a group of Century students. “When you come home at the end of the day knowing that you saved a life, or you helped someone and made them safe, what better job can you have than that?”