After a two-day delay caused by the weather, Sheriff Mark Bowen administered the Merit Deputy oath to Hamilton County’s newest officer, John Cline. A native of Indiana, Cline graduated from Indiana University in 1993 with a degree in criminal justice. He was then hired by the Cincinnati Police Dept., where he attained the rank of corporal. During Cline’s 15-year tenure with CPD, his duties also included spending time in the investigations division. He left the department in 2009 to return to Indiana with his family and became a certified fraud examiner.

Cline fills a position left vacant by a recent resignation at the sheriff’s office. He will spend several weeks in classroom training to transfer his law enforcement certification from Ohio before he begins the field-training program.