By Jon Huang
Raymond Pettitt is a pastor at Outside the Gates Worship Center in Fountain. He has served as a military chaplain as well as a deputy officer in Alabama. This summer, he became a member of the new El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Posse program. Pettitt has responded to calls related to neighborhood watch requests, parked car issues and accompanied deputies to homeless encampments to keep the peace and provide support.
“We walk around (and) people get to see that we’re not all the Billy Bad Boys they think we are, so they get to see us as part of the community,” he said.
For Pettitt, volunteering with the posse is about caring for his community.
“It gave me an opportunity to continue doing what I used to do and do it where I don’t have to fight anymore.”
Mark Shuster is a retired Marine Corps officer who currently works in government contracting. His son is an EPSO deputy and Shuster himself was already a volunteer at the range. As a current member of the posse, he currently helps in pre-admissions at the Criminal Justice Center and has worked traffic control at local events. In addition to working with the deputies and public, the experience has come with a bonus.
“The best part of it is the connections I’ve made with fellow posse members, creating an opportunity to serve with others that have a same mindset,” he said. “We’re creating new friendships. I’m learning to trust these men and women in the areas that we spend time together,” he said.
Alek Kessinger is a U.S. Air Force Veteran working a 100% remote job as a hardware engineer for Space Force. He had previously been part of the national guard in Illinois and Idaho.
“I really wanted to get out and meet people and have something to do on the side,” he said.
His wife did not want him working a job requiring him to be armed and so Kessinger found other ways to give back.
“Being prior law enforcement, I really enjoy helping instruct. I do role playing for the Academy cadets for traffic stops so I get to be really mean, say bad things to them and I’m safe. I did it last week and I got to be the really nice guy,” he said.
Coincidentally, one of the posse members he met was a co-worker at his day job, and another happened to live close by and the three of them regularly hang out. Volunteering has led to new friendships he otherwise wouldn’t have had, he said.
For Kessinger, these connections have extended into his interactions with the public.
“Just that ‘who are you’ sparks such a deep conversation and you really find there are a lot of people in our community that are prior law enforcement,” he said.
Will Carter, one of the new members of the EPSO Posse program, mingles with maybe a future posse member. In the background is another posse member, Marcus Mancini.
Alek Kessinger, right, is a prior law enforcement officer, veteran and a hardware engineer for the Space Force. He has enjoyed new friendships and community connections as a new member of the EPSO Posse program. To his left is Deputy Ken Love, a reserve deputy with the EPSO
