Sterling police welcome Fritch as sworn officer after academy completion

Sterling police added a new sworn officer to the street as Michael Fritch completed the Colorado POST Refresher Academy and joined the department’s sworn staff. For a department that runs around the clock with 23 sworn officers and 6 civilian employees, even one more officer can affect how much coverage Sterling residents see on patrol and how quickly the city can keep up with daily calls for service.

The Sterling Police Department said Fritch had served as a community service officer before earning the promotion to Officer Fritch. The department praised his professionalism and positive attitude, two traits it leans on as it tries to keep staffing steady in a small-agency setting where each assignment matters. Sterling is the largest city in northeastern Colorado, and the police department says its work is built around community policing, public safety and strong partnerships with residents.

Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training, better known as POST, requires officers in Colorado to complete a POST-approved academy to become certified. POST says its Refresher Academy is the authorized path for former Colorado-certified peace officers who need to regain certification, making Fritch’s completion of that program the key step that allowed him to move into a sworn role in Sterling.

The department’s staffing and specialized units show how much one hire can ripple through the system. Alongside regular patrol and support operations, Sterling police list a K-9 unit, school resource officers, a Special Enforcement Team and the Northeast Regional S.W.A.T. Team. That regional team was established in 2021 and includes members from the Sterling Police Department, Logan County Sheriff’s Office, Brush Police Department, Fort Morgan Police Department and Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.

That kind of regional cooperation matters in Logan County and across northeastern Colorado, where smaller departments often rely on shared resources to handle high-risk situations and fill gaps that would be difficult to cover alone. Sterling police say the department and its members are an integral part of the community, and that police alone cannot control crime or solve community problems. Bringing Fritch onto the sworn roster fits that broader effort to build stability, strengthen response capacity and keep trust growing alongside the city’s population demands.