Barbara Lawlor
NEDERLAND
 
    When Cameron Kiefer was a teenager in Fresno, California, he was at a parade watching officers direct traffic and admired how they handled themselves and the crowd. After speaking to one of them, he learned about the Police Explorers, a program for young people interested in law enforcement. He signed up.
    Delving into the world of fighting crime was a far cry from his normal range of activities. He said he wasn’t into sports because it was too hot to be outside, so he took up bowling where he could fling a ball in air conditioning. Since he was a child he had collected coins. His interest led him to employment with coin dealers.
    As he learned more about law enforcement in his Explorer Program, Cameron joined competitions and his zeal for the exercises won him awards in scenario-based competitions, such as domestic violence and traffic stops and medical aid and building searches.
    When he became 21 and his Explorer activities were done, he was offered a job as a police officer, but a job at the Tech Center Independent Coin Grading in Denver lured him to Colorado.
    “We make sure that coins are authentic and then we certify them,” explained Cameron.  He received a scholarship for a week-long seminar in Colorado Springs to learn how to do this. For the next three years he and his wife had their first child. When the company he worked for moved to Florida, Cameron decided to stay in Colorado and open his own coin business. In  March of 2008, he hung his sign in Northglenn, buying and selling coins and going to shows.
    “I worked out of my home and had my own hours. My wife suggested that now would be a good time to go to the police academy, which I had talked about,” says Cameron.
    Last January, he enrolled in the Community College of Aurora 11-month program and graduated in December. One of his instructors happened to be Jake Smith, a Nederland Police Officer who told Cameron there was an opening for a part-time officer in Nederland.
    It was a perfect opportunity for the young newly trained officer.
    Cameron says, “I like the small town and I didn’t want a full-time job. I will work one to two days a week, training and filling in. My favorite part is how friendly everyone is. They wave to me and come up and introduce themselves. I haven’t found a single bad part of being up here, except it gets cold and muddy.”
    On his first day of field training, Cameron was involved in a DUI arrest that demanded some hands-on tactics that, he says, were handled perfectly.
    Cameron lives in Northglenn with his wife Angie, and his two children. He still likes to bowl, watch the Rockies play, collect coins and come to Nederland and meet people.