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Date: 1/20/2021
SOUTHAMPTON – Eashampton’s Health Agent Brianna Eichstaedt has recently joined the Southampton Police Department as a part-time officer.
Eichstaedt grew up in Southampton and told Reminder Publishing that she envisions moving back and settling there.
She said while attending Westfield State University as an environmental science major, she had no thoughts of a career in criminal justice or law enforcement but the idea of becoming an environmental police officer became of interest at the end of her college career.
When she began working for the city of Greenfield as their health inspector for three years, she shared that she got a taste of public health with housing, code enforcement, and substance misuse. Eichstaedt told Reminder Publishing she liked the code enforcement part of the job but also liked educating children and teenagers on substance misuse and healthy decision-making. As a result, over the past couple of years, she has considered going into policing.
Because her full-time job in Easthampton requires her to work Monday through Thursday, she now has more flexibility to have a part-time job on the side. Therefore, last year she attended the part-time police academy and applied to the Southampton Police Department in July 2020.
“I do not want to just leave public health and jump right into policing. I think part-time is a great segue into it to see if I like it. I have a feeling I am going to love it, so I would say full-time is not off the table but I do feel very passionate about Easthampton because I have spent a lot of time trying to build a department and get it to where I want it to be and I finally feel like we are at a good strong place but going full-time is not out of the question either,” said Eichstaedt.
While she said believes she will like the role of a community police officer, she would love to teach programs like substance misuse education in the schools. She shared that she is exposed to mental illness during inspections in Easthampton and wants to bring more of a sympathetic and an understanding approach to certain situations to Southampton.