New cop in town

The Glenrock Police Department has welcomed a new officer to the force.
Billy Frieda has worked as a police officer for more than 20 years. Most of his time was spent working in Denver. After Frieda got his feet wet he began working within a parole unit focusing primarily in gang and narcotics enforcements.
He taught firearm, use of force and reality based instructor development (RBID) training classes in Colorado. Frieda created RBID training programs, such as active shooter training, for other police precincts to teach to their officers. He also worked heavily with training other law enforcement on outlaw motorcycle gangs and the Mexican drug cartels.
“A lot of people don’t see it,” Frieda said, speaking of how his training has honed his skills of identifying gang members. “How they carry themselves, or what is on the bike, a lot of them won’t fly their cuts (colors) but they will have something on their bike.”
After working in Denver, Frieda spent 3 and half years in Windsor, Colorado, before heading back to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, for five months to take care of his ill mother.
When he decided to return to the West, he moved to Buffalo and lived with his brother until finding a job and a home in Glenrock.
Frieda has been adjusting to life here in Wyoming and one of the biggest changes of working in Colorado versus Wyoming was marijuana legalization, he noted.
“It made our jobs a lot harder to enforce it, because you have kind of these gray areas,” he said. Frieda was working in Colorado when marijuana became legal. “From the ground floor up, it affects everything,” he said.
Frieda looks forward to the availability of hunting, fishing and outdoors activities in Wyoming.
“I like Wyoming,” he said. “People in general are different (in Wyoming). It’s a good thing to me, they seem more friendly.”
So far, everyone has been welcoming to Frieda in Glenrock.
“When I came in and interviewed with him (GPD Chief Tim Hurd) I told him ‘chief, just how you guys have spoke with me just means a lot to me.’ Because I have been in those department where you are just a badge number,” he said. “Here it is more close-knit. You feel more like a team player.”