Applications now in for Oran police vacancies

ORAN, Mo. -- No time frame has been set for when Oran will hire a police chief and another full-time officer to staff its currently nonexistent police force.

Oran's entire police force, chief Marc Tragesser and two other full-time officers, submitted their resignations Nov. 7. Within a week of the resignations, the city began advertising for a new chief and another full-time officer.

The application period ended Tuesday. As of Nov. 13, three applications had been received for the positions. Mayor Tom Urhahn said Friday he's not sure how many applications came in before the end of the period. The Oran city clerk's office, which tracks applications, was closed Friday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The city's board of aldermen will meet at some point to look over applications and begin interviewing candidates.

"We haven't discussed it yet," Urhahn said Friday. "The whole board will meet and discuss the issue. We'll wait and see how many applications we have and go from there."

The board of aldermen will make the determination of which applicants will be hired.

Until Oran hires new police officers, the town will be without any in-house law enforcement presence. The Scott County Sheriff's Department has been responding to calls from Oran. County officers will continue patrolling the town on sweeps through the county and will continue until new city police officers are hired.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said his department has received few calls from the town.

"I think everything's been going smooth over there," Walter said.

What few calls have been received have been verbal arguments that didn't escalate into physical violence and one call of a loud party. The latest call came Thanksgiving night, when deputies responded to a verbal argument.

Walter said he didn't really see crime as a problem in the town of about 1,600 people. Oran's image has been tarnished in recent months due to the controversy over Tragesser, but Walter said the town is generally peaceful.

Tragesser began working as police chief in Oran in summer 2005. He immediately sparked controversy when some town residents claimed his law enforcement approach was too harsh and too much of a change from former chief Howard Stevens' enforcement strategy.

Following his resignation, Tragesser began working full time as a deputy in the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182