ELLSWORTH – After a long search, the stars aligned for the Ellsworth Police Department when Eric Van Nocker decided to apply for the open sergeant position. He was officially sworn in on Nov. 13, 2023 and has been acclimating to his new role in the community.

Van Nocker, an Ellsworth resident, most recently served as an investigator with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, a role he held for two of his five years there. He also worked as a patrol officer and the DARE officer. His experience in law enforcement was rounded out by a six-year stint at River Falls Police Department and part-time jobs in Fond du Lac County and the village of Rosendale.

As a child, Van Nocker had many professions on his mind. Unfortunately, many of them required a love of math.

“I had so many different things I wanted to do. Carpentry, architecture,” Van Nocker laughed. “Then I realized I was not good at math. About middle school, I started thinking about law enforcement or mechanics. I love working on cars. I like the cars you can fix without needing an IT degree.”

When he was 16 years old, he joined the Police Explorers program with the city of Fond du Lac, suggested by his school resource officer. He took part in that until he was 19 before graduating with an associate’s degree from Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton.

“I wanted to like Johnny Depp on ‘21 Jump Street,’ but that never happened,” he lamented. “When my school resource officer suggested I join the Police Explorers, I did a ridealong and I liked it.”

Even though he enjoyed his position at the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, he felt a pull toward the sergeant role at Ellsworth PD. He felt it was a good advancement opportunity and he knew the department, from working there part-time from 2018-2021.

“I loved investigations,” Van Nocker said. “But when the sergeant’s position came open, (Chief) Eric started recruiting me. I was happy at the sheriff’s office. I was happy with my position.”

So he didn’t apply for the job. But when the lead candidate from Missouri backed out at the last minute, he started rethinking his decision. He talked it over with his wife and decided to apply again if it came open, which it did just days later, like it was meant to be.

His duties cover a wide variety of tasks. He is in charge of field training officers for the department, basic supervision of patrol staff, scheduling, maintaining the evidence/property room and scheduling officer trainings.

“My hope is to bring some modern stuff into the department,” Van Nocker said. “Why fix it if it’s not broken, right, but there are some different, newer, more modern ideas out there that I would like to try to implement so we can use our computer systems to their full capability. We can manage our property/evidence room entirely through the computer system, and get away from pen and paper type stuff.”

He would also like to foster more involvement with the community’s youth. While he’s a big fan of the county’s DARE program, and events like National Night Out and Shop with a Cop, he would like to see the police department host more regular events for kids. He’s exploring hosting a movie/pizza night with officers or picnics in East End Park with games.

“It would be nice to invite the kids that don’t always see us in the best light,” Van Nocker said.

When he’s not wearing a badge and uniform, Van Nocker can be found with wife Renee chasing after their two children, Piper (14) and Gracie (10). He enjoys taking the girls to 4-H activities, gardening, yard work, cooking, smoking meat and sleeping when he can. His family is also involved with English Lutheran Church.

As Van Nocker looks to the future, he would like to become chief someday when Ladwig retires. But right now, he’s focused on building relationships with fellow officers and the community and Ellsworth’s new police sergeant.