At Northern Kentucky University’s Police Department (NKUPD), the Zelensky last name has been around for quite a while.

Greg Zelensky began as an officer at NKUPD in 1997.

He said he always wanted to be a police officer, but he loved the idea of working at a university, too. After meeting his wife who was a Kentucky native, he moved to the Commonwealth. He began applying for campus police departments around the area, and it just so happened that NKU was a perfect fit.

He worked as an officer for around 16 years, then was promoted to sergeant, a role he held for the last nine years.

After a 27-year career, Greg retired at the end of this summer.

Now, his son Corey is following in his footsteps by becoming an officer as well.

The father of two recalled his reaction when he learned that Corey was interested in policing.“It was kind of a mixed reaction. You know, I’m proud that he’s following my footsteps, but are you sure you want to do it? Because it’s gonna be a rough life,” Greg laughed.

Corey has always loved music. In high school, he was a bassoon player and dreamed of becoming a band director. Corey joined the Marine Corps with interest in serving in the branch’s band.

“Unfortunately he didn’t get into the band, but he still wanted to go in the Marines,” Greg said.

Corey served as a military police officer for the Marines and learned that he really enjoyed the work. When he left the military, he started exploring policing jobs in the area. 

He landed a job as a police officer in Covington and worked there for about a year, combining his military police experience with what he learned at the police academy.

“[As] military police for the Marine Corps, you start off learning the case law that a lot of police officers use, and that’s the basis for a lot of our decisions. But for the police officers on base with the Marine Corps, they don’t give you that in-depth explanation that I got at the academy,” Corey said. “It was more like building blocks or the foundation… It kind of gave me that foot in the door, so to speak.”

After about a year, Corey was recommended to find a smaller agency where he could focus on getting “better overall as a better police officer.” 

It was at this time an opportunity at NKU came knocking on his door.

“I was very interested in getting [Corey] in to talk to him and kind of see if it would work out… and it did, fortunately,” NKU Police Chief John Gaffin said.

The young officer said he was truly excited when NKU reached out to him. He looked forward to learning the difference between city policing and university policing, and the fact that his father had built a long-lasting career at the same place was just the cherry on top.

“When they said, ‘Corey’s going to come work here,’ I was like he’ll be a good fit because he’s never met a stranger. He’s very talkative, very outgoing, and he’s the type that he wants to go out and help people,” his father said.

Corey said his father’s retirement date and his own start date weren’t planned; it kind of just happened that way. 

Gaffin said he finds it incredible that a Zelensky has worked at NKUPD since 1997. 

“You don’t send your son to work somewhere that’s a bad place,” Gaffin said. “That says something to me about the distance that we’ve been able to come, and of course Greg was a huge part of that.”

The police chief credited Greg as one of the first officers to truly commit to the university and build a career at NKUPD. While there can be many challenges, from long hours to low pay, Greg was known for being reliable.

“It’s one thing to be a great officer, it’s one thing to be a great, dependable teammate,” Gaffin said. “It’s another thing to be sort of just a good person, a good husband, a good father.”

While the office will certainly miss Greg’s character and dependability, they have another Zelensky to continue their legacy.

Corey says he is eager to continue learning the campus and making an impact on as many students as possible.