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Today's Featured Biography

 
Zachariah Hastings

Northridge resident Zachariah Hastings graduated from high school in 1994, then went down several paths before joining the Dayton Police Department at 31. Two years ago, he moved into the position of community resource officer and found his calling working with young people as the “good guy.”
“I went to college for a few years after graduation, but it wasn’t for me, so I left and worked in shipping at a Northridge factory,” said Hastings. “But, I started feeling old, so, at 23, I joined the Air Force.” Stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, he worked on F-16 aircraft; when he left active duty, he joined the reserves as an electrical/environmental specialist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
“At Nellis, I worked outside, but here, I was working in a basement and couldn’t take it,” he recalls. He heard that the police department was giving the Civil Service exam for new recruits, took the test and got the job, starting on patrol.
“I was the ‘bad guy’ on patrol, and mentally took a beating, but enjoyed playing basketball now and then with school kids,” he said. When the opening came for a community resource officer, he took it.
Among his varied duties, he helps out with the city’s Shoes for the Shoeless program, works with East End Community Center and emceed their talent show, helps kids remove graffiti, spends Fridays at K12 Gallery participating with students from City Day Community School, and will help with the Bike Rodeo in May and baseball activities at the Reds Rookie Camp.
“I get to interact with kids, and I’m not the ‘bad guy’ anymore. I’m doing something cool.”
One of those “cool” things is Coffee With a Cop, where he interacts with residents at Ghostlight Coffee on Wayne Avenue; that’s where he met Belmont High School assistant principal Daniel Hinshaw.
“All anyone sees on TV are the negative things police are doing, and I wanted the students to get a different view of the police,” said Hinshaw, a Harrison Twp. resident.
“I went to Coffee With a Cop and met Officer Hastings, let him know who I was and what I wanted to do. He said he’d be happy to come to the school and meet with the kids. Originally, the kids’ reaction was ‘Who are they looking for?’ and I had to pull them over to talk with him. Now, they ask him to have lunch with them,” Hinshaw said. “He’s a good fit for our kids, and it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Hastings says, “
Some officer friends and I played basketball against their reserve team in an assembly, and now we’re setting up a game for the eighth-graders. I stay during all their lunch periods, and will start going to Ruskin and Cleveland schools.”
He says, “I can’t say enough about this job. This is the best job in the police department, and I’m the luckiest police officer,” he says.

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