Krysta Wedge
For Krysta Wedge, it all started with cop shows.
“It always intrigued me,” she said of police work. “The adrenaline rush that you get with dealing with cases and investigations. I always knew I wanted to go into criminal justice.”
Just what the 2018 Brookfield High School graduate wanted to do in law enforcement made itself clear as she got to know Brookfield policemen who would stop in at Scotty’s Brookfield Express Mart, where she works part time as a clerk; talked about the Brookfield police volunteer program with Mike Evans, another volunteer; and worked as a volunteer.
As a volunteer, the Youngstown State University sophomore and criminal justice major has helped with report filing, evidence room maintenance and other clerical and paperwork duties, but also got to go on the road with officers to watch them at work. That experience convinced her that police work “is what I want to do with my life,” she said.
“I loved it,” she said.
That volunteer work turned into a part-time job when she was hired Feb. 3 as evidence and property clerk.
“That’s a big weight off of my shoulders, because it gives me time to concentrate on my investigations and all the other things that I do around here,” said police Detective Aaron Kasiewicz, who has been responsible for evidence and property and will supervise Wedge.
Wedge accepts and logs into the computer system all evidence, found and abandoned property and prisoner property collected by the police officers, Kasiewicz said. She stores it in the evidence and property room, sends evidence out for testing, and logs out evidence that an officer needs to take to court.
Wedge also will research individual cases to determine when evidence can be returned to its owners, or for which destruction orders should be sought from a judge.
“All that takes a lot of time,” Kasiewicz said.
As of Feb. 21, Wedge had been on the job as evidence and property clerk only three days, but had made “a big, vast difference in there,” Kasiewicz said, by rearranging the room, helping to add shelving and separating biohazard material and firearms from other evidence to improve safety, Kasiewicz said.
Wedge said she will attend the YSU police academy in the fall – Evans is attending the police academy currently – but will continue her criminal justice degree studies.
The volunteer program is designed to give someone with an interest in police work real-world experience so they can decide if it’s something they want to pursue as a career, Kasiewicz said.
“A lot of people base everything off of what they see on TV, versus reality,” he said. “When you come here in person, you see that it’s not all driving around doing traffic stops and handling calls. There’s a lot of paperwork that goes with it, there’s a lot of outside activities that aren’t, basically, what you see on ‘Cops.’”
Wedge said her outgoing personality makes her well suited to interactions with people, and she has felt the adrenaline rush that she got from cop shows while she has been on ride-alongs.
“It’s intriguing because you never know what will happen,” she said of police work. “It’s always different.”
