By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Officer Brent Overton was recently hired at the Clanton Police Department.

Overton attended school in Alabaster, and then moved to Clanton in seventh grade before completing high school in Thorsby.

He then worked at Calera Walmart, where he hoped to be put on asset protection. After his time there, he was excited when he got the chance to work at the Chilton County Jail.

Overton moved on from there to go to the police academy in Montgomery.

“I went through 22 weeks of the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Overton.

He graduated and was hired as an officer in the Montgomery Police Department. He worked in different districts in the city, eventually being assigned to a narcotics unit on the East side. He loved chasing down drugs and getting them off the streets.

“I don’t like to smell [drugs] in the streets,” said Overton.

He recently moved to the CPD after nearly two years at the MPD. Overton said he has wanted to work in Clanton, which he considers home, since he worked at the Chilton County Jail.

Overton has a strong vein of law enforcement in his family. His uncles Larry and Ray Roland were both police chiefs, with more than 60 years of service in law enforcement between the two of them.

“I got a lot of my inspiration from those two,” said Overton.

According to Overton, his cousins on his mother’s side are all in law enforcement as well, and his sister currently works at the Chilton County Jail and is working toward becoming an officer.

“My dad wasn’t a cop, but he really inspired me. He wanted me to do something like this, because he knew that’s what I wanted,” said Overton. “He really pushed me and made me really want it.”

Overton was sworn in on Oct. 19 in front of a full courthouse by Judge John Hollis Jackson III.(Photo by Steven Calhoun)

Overton’s favorite thing about the CPD so far has been getting to know his workmates. He said he likes that the higher ups do not segregate themselves from everyone.

“Everybody’s friendly” said Overton. “Chief’s coming up shaking your hand, captains are riding in the car with you, eating lunch [together] … They have to separate [being] your friend and your boss, but this place just does it so well.”

Overton said in the near future he would like to be part of the SWAT team and hopes to make the highest ranks at the CPD over time.