New Havre police officer continues family tradition

The City of Havre swore in Jayce Barclay to the position of probationary police officer Thursday in City Hall, fulfilling Barclay's long-time desire to get into law enforcement like his father, Steven Barclay.

"I just always loved what he did for work," Jayce Barclay said. "I just always looked up to it."

Barclay, 24, said he was born and raised in Anaconda, graduating from Anaconda Junior/Senior High School in 2013. After high school he moved to Missoula where he worked at a beer distributing company for the past five-and-a-half years. He added that he has always wanted to be in law enforcement, but wanted to wait until he was a little older and more mature before he made the move

His father, Steven Barclay, was at the ceremony. Barclay retired from the Anaconda Deer Lodge County Police Department after serving for 26 years. He has worked for the state Department of Criminal Investigation for the past three years as an agent in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He added that he is happy to see his son getting into law enforcement.

"It feels great," he said.

Jayce Barclay will go to the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena Sunday. Barclay said that he hears it's a lot of hard work, but it will be great to learn. He added that the academy is 12 weeks long and it will be challenging to get back into an educational mindset.

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich said that typically the people Havre Police Department sends to the academy tend to perform in the top 10 of their classes.

"We do well, we send good candidates and we always are looking for the best of the best to work here," he said.

Jayce Barclay said he thought Havre would be a good place to start his career in law enforcement. He added that he remembers wanting to be a police even when since he was a child, he and his friend taking his father's badge and holster to go play cops and robbers where they were both cops fighting against imaginary robbers.

He said he looks forward to working with the people and the other law enforcement in Havre.

"I've always been a people person," he said.

He said his philosophy is that local law enforcement officers are a pillar of the community and people shouldn't be afraid of them - law enforcement is there to help people.

"People should be happy to see you versus running away and being scared of you," he said.

Matosich said that Barclay is a great addition to the department and it is good to get the department fully staffed and get more people on the streets patrolling. The department still has two vacancies. He added that he hopes to get at least one more officer hired before the department starts looking to fill the vacant detective position.

After he had sworn him in, Mayor Tim Solomon handed Barclay his badge, which is the same number Barclay's father had while on the Anaconda force.