New Ohio State Highway lieutenant serves Huron and Seneca counties

NORWALK — Timmothy Hoffman grew up wanting to be a public servant and that dream has been fulfilled working for local Ohio State Highway Patrol posts. Now, it's being fulfilled as the post commander in Norwalk. Hoffman grew up in Elyria and currently resides in Lorain. He started as a prison guard at the Mansfield prison in 2000, then got his first breakthrough as a dispatcher for the Norwalk State Highway Post. In 2006, he graduated from the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy and became a trooper at the Ohio Turnpike post in Milan. From there he bounced around as a trooper in Norwalk, to being promoted to sergeant at the Elyria post, then back to the Milan post, until finally he was promoted to Norwalk post commander in December of 2020. It was a long road to get to this point, but for Hoffman, it was worth it. "I love it out here. It is a great area to work, people are very law-enforcement friendly. I joke that I can't buy my own coffee in uniform because I'll be in line and someone is always trying to pay for my coffee," Hoffman said. As commander, Hoffman's job is to be the face of the post, on top of traffic enforcement and traffic safety, which are the main priorities of the post. This means there are a variety of day-to-day problems that Hoffman deals with. "Our post got struck by lightning last week so the radios were knocked out, the camera system got knocked out, the key card system got kind of disabled a little bit so I had to make some phone calls and facilitate getting all of those repairs done. I'm basically responsible for the facility," Hoffman said. Hoffman and his post have responsibility for two counties — Huron as well as Seneca — which the Norwalk Post has permanently taken responsibility for from the Fremont Post in January of 2020. The reason for this was low staffing at the Fremont Post. The Norwalk Post currently has four sergeants and 12 troopers. The Fremont Post has just eight troopers. "It is nice to have 12 or 13 troopers at a post. It makes it so that you can keep enough people working so that there is never anybody out there working alone for instance. You don't want to have one trooper out there by himself all not or herself all night working, you would like to have backup. So we like to have 12, that is four on each shift, it is easy to keep coverage," Hoffman said. The reasoning why the Fremont post is seeing a lower number of staff is because of a variety of reasons. Injuries, maternity and paternity leave, and just people quitting the jobs can contribute to the low numbers both for a limited amount of time and permanently. Taking over the new county creates more work for everyone involved at the Norwalk Post. "It doubles our work because if you look at Seneca County and Huron County they are very similar. Similar population size overall, similar square miles they are both right around 500 square miles, similar amount of roadway," Hoffman said. Hoffman's goals for both counties are very community oriented. "I just want to keep expanding our good relationship with the community. We are going to be at the Huron County Fair in conjunction with the health department. We are going to have a booth set up with a patrol car," Hoffman said. "I also want to reconnect with the schools, especially surrounding the big events like homecoming and prom and events that are going to cover a lot of students out driving. I just want to increase our presence, make sure that we are taking care of people on the roads out here," Hoffman said. The goals don't stop there, either. Hoffman wants to reduce fatal crashes in both counties. There were 11 in Seneca and eight in Huron last year. So far in 2021, Seneca County has just two while Huron County has seen only one. The way they want to do that is similar to how they want to improve community relations — by being present. "Our basic plan is to be out there, be visible, be present so that people know we are there and expect to see us at any time which tends to make people drive better," Hoffman said. As busy as all of this might make Hoffman's life, he is happy with the path that he has set himself on. "I always felt the need to contribute to society as a public servant. I felt that from a young age, I wanted to be a fireman initially when I was younger, but I went down the law enforcement path and I'm glad I did. I just felt a calling to be a public servant," Hoffman said