John Bizub can’t remember the last time he took a vacation.
John Bizub administers a breath test to Jordan Tingler at a mock crash at Brookfield High School.
And, Bizub does not do weekends.
“I probably have worked seven days a week for the past six years,” he said.
Bizub currently works three jobs, and two of them are among the highest stress jobs there are: policeman and firefighter, both for Brookfield.
Yet, they are each second jobs. His full-time occupation is as a court officer for Trumbull County Eastern District Court, Brookfield.
Bizub didn’t set out to be this busy, but he also isn’t about to quit.
“I was always brought up (that) you’re not gonna get anything unless you work for it,” he said, referring to the teaching of his father, also named John.
The Hubbard native started his fire training in 1999, just after graduation from Hubbard High, and completed emergency medical technician training in 2001. The next year, he graduated from the Youngstown State University Police Academy.
Brookfield fire hired him part time in 2001, and Brookfield police a year later.
“I like helping people,” Bizub said. “Somehow, I just fell into both sides of it.”
He also fell into what is now his full-time job. He started with the court as a one-day-a-week bailiff at the request of Ronald Rice, a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge who was then the judge of Eastern District Court.
Bizub’s role expanded when the court developed the need for a security officer, and court officials found it advantageous to have someone with medical training on hand, he said.
The police department also liked having him at the court, because it is close to Brookfield schools and he could respond to the school quickly, should a need arise, he said.
Bizub was hired to work at the court full time in 2012. He often leaves court at the end of the day and heads to the fire department, and typically works midnights on the weekends for the police department.
When he isn’t working – or sleeping – he devotes that time to his family, Bizub said.
“I try to balance everything with my family,” said the married father of a 3-year-old daughter. “I enjoy doing it, still.”
At the end of some days he feels burned out, but he has a sort of muscle memory to do whatever job he is doing to the best of his ability, he said.
“I couldn’t imagine me doing anything else, I’ve been doing it so long,” he said.
Police work is the much more stressful job because of the way police are viewed in society, Bizub said. While firefighters are seen as heroes, people often view a policeman as someone who is “just trying to get at me,” he said.
As a policeman, Bizub said he does not take into account someone’s race or other societal factor in deciding how to deal with him or her.
“I’ve always treated everybody the same,” he said. “If you broke the law, you broke the law.”
The camaraderie within the departments is key to dealing with the stress of the jobs, he said.
“A lot of busting chops,” he quipped, adding, “The way I’ve been treated by the departments, the people I work with are a good group of men and women. If something happens (in his life), they would be the first ones there to help. I trust every one of those guys with my life.”
