Clovis couple share career moment: Police promotions

When Kristina Hershberger first came to Clovis Police Department as a recruit in 2003, little did she know that two years later she would be sharing assignments with her future husband.

The 40-year-old from southwest Louisiana met Brett Hershberger, 42, a Lemoore native, in 2005 when he joined the force. A couple of years later, they began dating, then got married in 2008.

On Thursday, they got to share a key moment in their professional careers: Kristina Hershberger was promoted to sergeant and Brett Hershberger was promoted to lieutenant by Clovis Police Chief Matt Basgall in a ceremony at Clovis City Hall. They were among 20 Clovis police officers who were sworn in or promoted Thursday afternoon. Four others were also recognized. Fresno held a similar ceremony Thursday morning to swear-in 13 officers, two cadets and three dispatchers.

Kristina Hershberger said working together and being married to someone in law enforcement is nice because they understand each other.

“When you get those calls that say, ‘hey I’m not going to be home,’ then he gets it and he understands,” she said. “We both know we got those late nights and those long (emergency) calls.”

Kristina Hershberger’s parents from Louisiana and Brett Hershberger’s mother were present to see the couple promoted to their new positions.

Both agreed it’s an honor to work for the Clovis Police Department and in unison said, “it’s pretty neat” that they get to share the promotion together.

“This department is well-respected in the community and I feel that this is the highlight of my career thus far,” Kristina Hershberger said.

“Coming from the (Kings County) Sheriff’s Department, I always thought Clovis PD was one of the best departments,” Brett Hershberger said. “It’s really humbling and it’s an honor to be in this position, that’s for sure.”

The others promoted or sworn-in included:

Clovis Police Department

▪ Corporal: Jared Binford, Jeremy Edmonson, Chris Berna, James Ellenberger and Scott Borsch

▪ Sergeant: Joshua Kirk, Craig Aranas, Kory Westbury

▪ Lieutenant: Katy Benham, Jorge Gomez and Curt Fleming

▪ Captain: Tom Roberts

▪ Lead police service officers: John Sai, Armando Negrete and Jessica Avalos

▪ Police officer: Jordan Dunn and Maria Saavedra

▪ Lateral police officer: Jordan Hunter, Giusseppe Chiaramonte, Joshua Faith and Armond French

▪ Reserve police officer: Sylvia Gee

Fresno Police Department

▪ Emergency services dispatcher: Darla Dobrinin, Crystal Stewart and Nozomi Vasquez

▪ Police cadet II: Nolan Hunt and Martin Padilla

▪ Police officer recruit: Timothy Barnett, Nicolas Romero, Nicholas Palomino, Jordan Hopkins, Christopher Wyant, Brad Fontaine, Micahel Berumen, Anthony Tafoya, Bryan Patterson, Sean Loy, Christopher Hodge, Derek Evers and Josiah Telles

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Clovis couple share career moment: Police promotions."