Matthew Bush/Character Arc

== Before Joining the Department of Public Safety ==
I Want It That Way
At the end of December 2023, Matthew Bush contacted Ron Paxton about a possible ride-along. Ron agreed, and Matthew met up with him at the DMV. After a court case that Ron was part of had finished, they, along with Harold StockHerd Well, patrolled the city. After a bit of time, the group chased and eventually arrested Goldie Fisher. 
To fully give Goldie her charges, the group needed a witness to identify her in a lineup correctly. Matthew was selected, along with Harold, to dress up like Goldie and was made to play Goldie #1 and #4, respectively. During the line-up, the witness requested Goldie #1 (Matthew) to sing the opening lines to the 1999 Backstreet Boys hit 'I Want It That Way'. He complied, and when it came to Goldie's turn, she failed to remember the lyrics and, as such, made the witness realise she was the real Goldie. Matthew quickly got changed after this and then attended a bench trial relating to this case. He ended his ride-along after this, still ambitious to join the police department with future hopes of riding with Ron and Harold.
== Recruit and Non-Solo Cadet Phase ==
Traffic Stops to Stabbings
Matthew acquired an FTO session with Liam Ronalds, who began by showing Matthew how to find and process evidence. The pair went down to patrol around the city, where they pulled over Heidi Jensen and an on-duty Candice DeFitt for speeding. After a few minutes of conversation, it was found that Heidi did not hold a valid driving licence. However, Matthew decided against charging her for this as long as Candice drove from then on. Matthew issued Heidi with a speeding citation and the pair continued with the FTO session. 
Later on that evening, the pair drove up to Burger Shot after Ronalds got a call for free burgers from Kimberly Johnsen. After a bit, Ronalds told Matthew that someone was going to kidnap him so they made preparations. In the end, Kimberly tried to stab Ronalds, and an officer shot her down. Heidi and Candice appeared on the scene and eventually, Heidi also tried to stab Liam. However, Matthew was quicker and shot Heidi down. During the processing of the pair, Heidi decided she wanted a bench trial. This was granted with Justice Tiberius Schwinghammer presiding over the trial. After a rather lengthy bench trial, Heidi was found guilty of all charges and Kimberly, out of frustration with the results, started punching Ronalds, with Matthew tazing and cuffing her. The FTO session ended after this trial, with Ronalds complimenting Matthew on his work that day.
The Final FTO Session
In mid-February, Matthew was able to contact Senior Lead Deputy Jon O'Connor, who said he would take him out for an FTO session. Matthew met up with O'Connor after that day's PD meeting, and the pair travelled to the Sandy Shores Sheriff's Station, where O'Connor questioned Matthew about which future police department he would like to work for. Matthew expressed interest in joining the SSPD, and so O'Connor set up an interview right away. Sergeant Jessie "Nova" Gallagah, Lieutenant James Doakes, and Jon O'Connor himself thus interviewed Matthew. After a few questions, which Matthew easily answered, the interview was over and O'Connor and Matthew went out on patrol.
During the FTO session, the pair responded to a couple of cars being tampered with and, eventually; they headed down to the city to find some more crime. On the way, they ended up chasing after a speeding Alyx Camden who was driving recklessly. They chased for a while and eventually were able to arrest them. With Matthew being close to promotion to solo cadet, Lieutenant Doakes explained Matthew would be in charge of doing all documenting and processing of the scene. Matthew was happy to show his worth and swiftly took charge to the best of his ability. In the cells, a lawyer was called for representation and Matthew was able to agree on a guilty plea. After the whole situation played out, and Alyx was sent up to jail, O'Connor finished the FTO session by telling Matthew he had done a good job and would report his results to his superiors.
Later that evening, Matthew was promoted and accepted into the Los Santos Sheriff's Department as a solo cadet.
== Solo Cadet Phase ==
Always Check For Guns
Matthew had been doing his new favourite thing in the city, traffic stops on Las Lagunas Boulevard, when a call came in for multiple shots fired. Matthew responded to this and ended up being the first to arrive on the scene where he spotted an injured man being carried to the pavement by someone else. Matthew quickly surveyed the area and, seeing no other parties, proceeded to start first aid on the injured man (with EMS being requested). Corporal Tyler Hayabusa arrived next on the scene and started collecting evidence whilst Matthew questioned the individual who had helped the injured man. After this, Matthew then followed the EMS to the hospital to take a statement.
Upon arriving at the hospital a doctor gave medical treatment to the man and then left the room, leaving only the individual and Matthew. However, conversations did not go as expected and the man pulled out a gun and held Matthew up. He robbed him of his panic button and ordered him to stand with his back to him facing the wall. The suspect then fled the hospital with Matthew quickly pursuing him whilst radioing for backup. Unfortunately, he was unable to apprehend him in this situation. Matthew met up with Corporal Jenkins who took his statement to what had occurred in the hospital. This is where Matthew realised his fatal mistake of not searching or GSR testing the guy whilst on the scene. Corporal Jenkins expressed his disappointment, however, he then explained that the cadet phase was the time for mistakes to be made. Matthew apologised and the pair ended their shifts by trying to work out what had happened on the original multiple shots fired call.
An Unexpected Ride Along
At the start of March 2024, Matthew had been having a rather quiet day on duty when he ended up pulling over a speeding vehicle in the city. The suspect ended up being known criminal Oliver Nova, though at this point Matthew had not made his acquaintance. After talking to him, Matthew returned to his vehicle to verify his details. At that moment Candice DeFitt (who was off-duty at the time) walked by and spoke to Matthew, questioning how in trouble Oliver was. Matthew replied, maybe slightly too loudly, saying that he was about to be in trouble. Hearing this, Oliver exited his vehicle and jumped into Matthew's and then pointed his gun at Matthew's head. He told Matthew to drive and, not wanting to be killed, Matthew reluctantly complied leaving Candice behind to call 911. 
Sergeant Jessie "Nova" Gallagah (whom Matthew had pulled over earlier that day and given a warning to for speeding) took the lead in trying to rescue Matthew from the situation. She tailed Matthew and Oliver up north to Chumash where Oliver misfired his gun, only just missing Matthew's head. The chase then continued down into the city back to the original traffic stop location where Matthew and Oliver exited the PD vehicle and entered Oliver's car. With Oliver now driving, Matthew was made to hand over his firearm, tazer gun and handcuffs and then told to jump from the speeding car. Matthew did this and thankfully was left unscathed. Sergeant Gallagah continued to chase Oliver, eventually getting him boxed and shot. Matthew reported to Sergeant Gallagah and explained what had happened and she expressed that he had done all the correct things during the situation, just glad that he was unharmed. They joked about the earlier traffic stop that they had both been a part of and then went back to Vespucci Police Station to process Oliver and write reports about the whole incident.
Matthew's First 10-79
Matthew had not long started his shift when a report came in of shots being fired inside the Infinity Apartments. After racing down to the city, he ended up being the first on the scene, quickly noticing the gunman (a man dressed in a red tracksuit brandishing a gun and singing). The man, later discovered to be Paul Wood, ran up the stairs firing shots as he evaded. Matthew, now joined by Traffic Officer Quentin Quell, tried to locate the gunman in the apartments but were unsuccessful. They started to sweep the scene for evidence however were soon called to an officer down outside in the garage.
The gunman made his way back into the apartments where a flood of police officers of various departments chased him up to the roof. Matthew, hanging back, decided to stay on the ground in case something else occurred. However, after miscommunications relating to getting off a ledge, the gunman fell off the roof and died after making impact with the pavement. Matthew, after witnessing the man fall from the top of the apartments and being the first to respond, cuffed the man even though one of his arms was detached from the body. The deceased gunman was swiftly pronounced dead on the scene and taken to the morgue where Matthew had the pleasure of writing the report for his first 10-79 (Notify Coroner).
Matthew's Final Evaluations
In the middle of March, Matthew reached out to Sergeant Jon O'Connor about a possible final evaluation to be promoted to deputy. Sergeant O'Connor explained that he would take his first evaluation and then another sergeant would need to take the second part. The first evaluation was a quiet session, with no arrests being made. With O'Connor shadowing, Matthew responded to a few traffic stops and had a chase with a stolen buggy which unfortunately fled before arrests could be made. He met up briefly with Sergeant Jessie "Nova" Gallagah who said they would do Matthew's second evaluation. After this, Matthew and Sergeant O'Connor did a small stakeout at Hookies, looking for a warrant evader. The person did show up, however, they were on a bike and drove away before the pair could act. The evaluation ended not long after this, with Sergeant O'Connor telling Matthew he had done a good job. 
The next day, Matthew was on duty for his second evaluation with Sergeant Gallagah. She began by explaining to Matthew that since they were driving a buffalo, he would have to drive it and maintain communications in pursuit even as primary. Matthew showed his worth not long after starting the evaluation when they entered a long chase, with Matthew keeping up good communications on the radio all the way through, with the PD eventually capturing the fleeing car thief. The pair moved into the city next to try and find someone speeding to pull over. They were lucky and found the Packer Brothers (Crum Packer and Crom Packer) breaking the law. In the end, the pair got arrested for disobeying a peace officer. The two brothers needed medical treatment so a trip to the hospital was needed where Matthew and Sergeant Gallagah arrested another man after he spat at a doctor and threatened them. The two brothers were quickly processed and the man who spat decided he wanted to fight his charges in a bench trial, so the evaluation moved to the DMV courtroom whilst a bench trial happened. After the court case, the evaluation was complete with Matthew dropping Sergeant Gallagah off and being told he would find out the results in the coming days.
== Deputy Phase ==
Investigating the Ballas
Matthew and Sergeant Ron Paxton were having a rather quiet shift together when the pair came across Edgar Valentin, who was driving under a suspended licence. An unhappy but compliant Edgar took the ticket (175 dollars and 2 points on his licence) got back in his car and began to drive away. Immediately, Matthew and Ron pulled him back over and again issued him another ticket. This happened a total of seven times, with Edgar even buying and driving a new car to try and confuse the police officers. Edger ended up with an additional 1225 dollars in fines and 14 points on his licence because of this. 
However, Matthew was not finished with Edgar. After a search on the MDW, Matthew became suspicious of the fact that Edgar could afford to go and purchase a new car even with his fines building up. Through research, he discovered that he was part of the East Side Ballas and had many cars without a legal job being listed. With this information in hand, Matthew decided to inquire further and looked over some of the other members of the gang, discovering a similar pattern (lots of assets with no legal job to finance them). Intrigued, he decided he would take this further, creating a subpoena for their bank records so he could truly investigate the finances of the various gang members.
The Big Yellow Taxi
During a patrol of Sandy Shores, Matthew witnessed a smashed-up yellow taxi speeding around the area. He pursued it and lost sight of the vehicle a few times, but eventually he was able to pull the driver over. The driver of the vehicle, Jim Boom, questioned why he had been stopped, with Matthew explaining that he had been speeding and that his vehicle was not looking in great shape. During the initial discussion, Matthew believed he could smell marijuana from Jim and the taxi, so he detained him for further investigation and tried to call for backup. However, this was unsuccessful due to all the other units being busy.
Matthew discovered that Jim did not hold a permit to use the taxi and, as such, could take the taxi from Jim and get it towed. Panicked by this thought, Jim began to plead with Matthew not to tow his vehicle. In the end, the pair struck up an agreement. Jim would empty all the contents of the vehicle into a nearby bin and go immediately to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get his taxicab permit. Jim complied and swiftly left, with Matthew taking the contents of the bin back to Sandy Shores Sheriff's Station for testing. Before opening the suspicious boxes, he contacted Ranger Daniel O'Shea to come to the station to sniff him and the boxes for marijuana. Daniel agreed with Matthew about what he could smell from the boxes, and upon opening them, he discovered that to be correct. Matthew put the marijuana into evidence and created a report for future reference if he came across Jim. He ended this shift by contacting him to check that he had gotten a taxicab permit, which he had done.
The Student Becomes the Teacher
After a couple of discussions over the phone with Nicole Nash, Matthew was certified as an FTO on a probationary basis. However, this did not mean he could take out and train cadets yet; he first had to observe someone's FTO session with a cadet. He shadowed Leon Jericho as he took out Cadet Luke Bear for a session, meaning he could now take a cadet out himself. 
Cadet Luke Bear became Matthew's very first student, and the pair spent the next couple of hours driving together. Bear showed himself to be quite the knowledgeable cadet, performing well at all the tasks he was given by Matthew. They responded to a couple of traffic stops and even had to deal with a kidnapping by two members of the Dan family up Mount Chilaid. The session lasted just over four hours and ended with a conversation between the pair about what had gone well and what had not gone so well. Matthew praised Luke and said that, in time, he would become a fine officer, needing more confidence and practice. He advised Luke that the next time he had an FTO session, it should be a shadow FTO who would remain quiet and allow Luke to take full charge. 
A few days later, Luke was promoted to solo cadet.
== Senior Deputy Phase ==
Becoming Detective Bush
After having a go at some investigations in his early Deputy phase, Matthew spoke to Kate McNamara about joining the Criminal Investigations Division and his place in the PD. After seeing his work, she not only expressed interest in him joining the division but also tried to convince him to transfer from the Los Santos Sheriff's Department to the Los Santos Police Department (which he swiftly declined). She told him she would talk to Karl Metzger and other high members and see what they thought. 
A few days after being promoted to Senior Deputy, Matthew had just gone back on patrol after the shift meeting when Kate contacted him. She summoned him to Grapeseed where Ty Slaughter, Riley Reads, Maya Mahmoud and Kate herself were gathered. Riley began by joking that Matthew had been working too hard with financial investigations which was her thing. She then explained that she couldn't fire him, however, she could invite him to join CID, which he happily accepted. With that, the group discussed the ins and outs of the division and Matthew picked his new call sign of W-11. 
Heading back on patrol, Matthew stated over the radio that "1-I-05 is back 10-8". This prompted Riley to scream over the radio that that was not his call sign anymore. He quickly corrected himself which received a roar of congratulatory messages to him.
Joining the SPEED Division?
Matthew had always had a passion for driving quickly, safely, and within the limits of the law. He decided early on in his cadet phase that he would like to join the Specialized Pursuit Enforcement & Education Division. However, due to only being a cadet and not a deputy or higher, he unfortunately could not join the division. So he waited until he became a deputy and quickly expressed interest to both Lily Pond and Heather Ashford about joining the unit. They told him he needed to wait until the next round of applications, but for the time being, they granted him permission to enter the VR and practice the speed time trial, a track to assess the ability of any applicants. 
He did this, continuing to improve and get better at the track, and, into his senior deputy phase, the application process for SPEED opened again. After submitting it within minutes of it being released, he continued to practice a track. Soon after, Heather joined him in VR and the pair discussed how to take a certain jump with Heather giving guidance, which Matthew decided to try. She questioned whether he wanted to do his trial then; however, Matthew requested it be the next day so he could practice some more. They met at a similar time the next day and ran the track. Matthew completed it both swiftly and extremely safely, with Heather complimenting him on his ability to go quick without harming the vehicle or others.
The Blaine County Triathlon
Back when Matthew Bush was a deputy in the Los Santos Sheriff's Department, he had reached out to his superiors (Heather Ashford and Jessie "Nova" Gallagah) about raising the morale during both shifts 1 and 3. He had an idea about an event that could take place in the county and help bring the community, inside and outside of the PD, together for some fun and enjoyment. They agreed it was a good idea and gave Matthew free rein to create his idea. He also spoke to Joe Ferraro, who was extremely positive about the idea and willing to help out where he could.
Over the next few weeks, Matthew began to organise the event that would become known as the Blaine County Triathlon. He reached out to all government departments to invite their members. He spoke to Roman Ellis, the Operations Director of The Haven Diner, about catering for an after-event BBQ. Finally, he invited many of the residents and workers of Sandy Shores to the after-event BBQ which would be free for all to enjoy. 
On the day of the event, 5 teams of two met at Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office. Matthew explained the rules and before they set off for the first checkpoint, they took a group photo. The teams set off with many falling down Mount Chiliad, however Robin Steele and Daniel O'Shea quickly made it to the peak of the mountain. They were given 8 questions to answer which determined their next location and, as they left on bikes down the mountain, other teams reached the peak. The last pair to reach the top, Tash Gumtree-Vidal and Madeline Gumtree-Vidal were last to leave on bikes but were also the only team to correctly answer all the questions, so had the least distance to swim once they finished on their bikes. 
Matthew waited for the last team to leave the top of Mount Chiliad, however, due to being driven around by Heather Ashford, had to make his way down the mountain on foot, as she had already left for the finish line. However, he didn't have to run as Harold StockHerd Well picked him up in his aeroplane (Patricia) and Matthew jumped out into the Alamo Sea, next to the finish line. In the end, Robin and Danny came first and won a cash prize of $3000. Everyone then moved to just outside of the Sandy Shores Sheriff's Station where Roman had set up The Haven Diner food truck for all to enjoy free food. Everyone congratulated the winners, as well as Matthew for organising such a fun event. He thanked all for attending and the event closed, though just before it did Matthew spoke to Roman about payment and Roman donated $2500 out of his own pocket towards the event, thanking Matthew for doing something for Blaine County.
Transferring to Paleto?
At the very end of Matthew's senior deputy phase, Ron Paxton was promoted to captain in the Grapeseed Sheriff's Department. However when Harold StockHerd Well was also promoted, communications between the pair failed and Ron left Grapeseed, deciding to focus on building his own successful sub-department in Paleto. 
During the next meeting, Ron voiced his thoughts to the rest of the PD and asked anyone who was interested to go and speak to him directly. Immediately after the meeting, Matthew spoke to Ron about joining him in a future Paleto sub-department which Ron was happy to hear and accept. Later that same day Matthew, out of respect, spoke to Joe Ferraro about this who held no negative feelings and told Matthew to do whatever felt was correct. 
The following day during the shift meeting, Ron spoke to the rest of the PD about people who had also expressed interest in Paleto. He finished by bringing Matthew to the front of the meeting and promoting Matthew to the rank of corporal in the Los Santos Sheriff's Department (since Paleto technically was not an established sub-department at this time). Matthew accepted the promotion and thanked his fellow officers for helping him reach this rank stating "team work really does make the dream work".
== Corporal Phase ==
Finally Getting a Desk
With Matthew now a Corporal, he set about helping to create the new sub-department under Ron Paxton. The Paleto Bay Sheriff's Department began to bring more and more people in with officers such as Luke Bear expressing interest in the sub-department. The interest increased after the new Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office was built, with Matthew quickly claiming a desk for himself, and the cleaning cupboard for Luke. 
Only weeks after becoming a Corporal, interviews were annouced to become a shift 1 Sergeant. Matthew immediately spoke to Ron about pursuing this who gave him his blessing. Similarly, he spoke to Heather Ashford explaining that he did not want to step on her toes but also wanted to become a sergeant. She explained that he would not be stepping on her toes and she had hoped he would go for this for both shift 1 and for Paleto.
Becoming a Hero
It had been a rather normal shift for Matthew. The corporal had been driving around the city with his ride-along for the day, veterinarian Anna Peta, when he spotted an individual holding another up someone at gunpoint near the Department of Motor Vehicles. Matthew quickly jumped out of his car and began to assess the situation and start negotiations for the hostage. This individual was identified as a good friend and current mayor of Los Santos Krzysztof Kryszalowicz.
Matthew negotiated with the gunpoint, asking him what he would like to free Krzysztof. At first, the gunman wanted to become the mayor of the city with every other Tuesday being Mike Block Remembrance Day where the mayor can be taken hostage without any charges. However after Matthew explained that this was not within his powers, the gunman decided he wanted a car to flee instead. Matthew relayed this over the radio but before a car could be sourced, the gunman took Krzysztof's keys and began to flee in his car. Matthew, the primary officer, called for the gunman to be immediately shot. However, another officer, Rob Mist, called for them to start pursuing instead which the officers on scenes followed rather than Matthew's orders. He stayed behind, now joined by Jessie "Nova" Gallagah, to make sure the mayor was well. The old friends joked about how far the pair had come and all left the scene happy. The gunman however ended up being shot down during the chase and was pronounced dead on scene. 
Later that day Matthew spoke to Lou Caruso about the fact that even though he was primary on scene Rob issued commands over him. Lou suggested in another situation to tell Rob that this is Matthew's scene and not his, however with how quickly this situation unfolded, that would not have been possible here. The pair had a lengthy conversation about this and in the end, Lou stated that he would discuss this situation with other command members.
An Official Sub-Department
In July, Sheriff Trevor Woods reached out wanting to meet with people to discuss the formation of the Paleto Bay Sheriff's Department. On the day in question, various people who had been acting as members of the PBSD, met at the Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office to meet with Sheriff Woods. After a delayed start due to Woods' train being delayed, the group began with a tour of the newly reopened Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office. They started the meeting by the blackboard where Woods wrote: "Ron You're Fired". Thankfully he was only joking and the meeting began with Ron Paxton and Heather Ashford introducing all the members of the future sub-department. When Ron introduced Matthew to Woods, he talked about Matthew's various certifications and the loyalty many lower ranks have under Matthew to the point where many want to join the PBSD to be under him. He also joked that Matthew is like the "nerd of an old-time detective, not a lot of red tape, doing thorough investigative stuff and mandatory research and making sure they have a finger on the pulse of the economy around there.", with Heather chirping in that they may need to move him into the evidence room. After all the conversations Woods stated that he would be happy to officiate things but would need to also talk to Bob Smith. They talked about needing to get new uniforms for the members as well as someone to design the livery for the cars, with Ron stating he would pay a college kid $500. The meeting ended by discussing cars for the PBSD, with Woods' saying he would give them 2 Allusions and a Buffalo and if they wanted other cars they would need to get some cheaper, older second-hand cars. Once Woods had left, the group discussed the success of the meeting and talked about the hopeful future of the sub-department.
Bridging the Gap
In mid-July, a meeting was organised for the members of Criminal Investigations Division. When Matthew arrived at the meeting, Kate McNamara was the only person present. She greeted him and asked if he knew Nathan Stone. Matthew stated he did and Kate explained that he was looking to join and would Matthew be able to be a mentor to him. Matthew accepted this role happily.
The meeting began with Robyn Walker, Veronica Wilson and Nathan joining the pair. Kate explained that the certification would be going through some changes and she would be looking for various people to become supervisors in the future, notably someone to lead financial investigations. Being Matthew's favourable area of CID piqued his interest and he began pushing towards it. One way he did this was by creating a guide for writing subpoenas. He took this further by meeting with Fierce Strongrock, Léo Keller and Skyler Sparks, where he explained that he wanted to raise the quality of subpoenas and had created this guide to try and do this. He also discussed with the group his hopes of bridging the gap and having open lines of communication, which had not been present in the past. The group agreed this would be a good idea.
At the start of August, Matthew finally met with Kate to discuss all that had happened since the previous meeting, his place in CID, and his guide for subpoenas. After listening to Matthew, Kate praised him for his fantastic work and his initiative in creating the guide. She explained how little she needed to worry about him, compared to other members, because she knew she could trust him fully. She ended the meeting by apologising for not being more present. This was quickly dismissed by Matthew who told her not to worry at all.
Achieving Ambitions
Eventually during Matthew's corporal stage, towards the end of July, shift 1 sergeant interviews were announced (this time for real). At the time, Matthew has been responding to a call. During the call, fellow officer Ace Smith questioned Matthew as to whether he had applied yet. Completely unaware the applications had opened, Matthew completed the call and then swiftly applied for the position, having to state his name, current sub-department and why he would like the position of sergeant (in no more than 20 words). With the position being Matthew's long-term goal, having even stated this in his initial PD interview, he hoped to be accepted for an interview as well as be successful and get the position. 
At the start of August, Ron Paxton texted Matthew to head over to Grapeseed Sheriff's Department for an interview with himself and Harold StockHerd Well. The interview began with a test which was a callback to Matthew's first day as a recruit. Harold asked Matthew to take a seat (which Matthew was unable to do, for some reason, when asked on his first day). He sat down and they first questioned him about why he put his name forward to become a sergeant. Matthew explained that it had been his goal from the beginning of his career and felt it would be the best spot for him to be able to support his fellow officers and help them to grow. He explained that eventually, he would like to move up the ranks, but for now, he hoped to spend some time as a sergeant and grow into that rank. Throughout the interview, Matthew talked about his accomplishments in his career so far such as when he became an FTI (with Harold joking that Matthew was the reason for Jonathan Cyan being made into a deputy, and Matthew explaining he takes full credit for him and he does have his issues but he also has a lot of positive as well). Matthew spoke about his work in Criminal Investigations Division and Specialized Pursuit Enforcement & Education Division as well as highlighting key moments in the certifications. He talked about what he believed a sergeant is and how he fits that role, including the importance of talking to lower ranks. He talked about what he believes the main issues with shift 1 are, stating the lack of communication as well as the fact that everyone is too focused on their sub-department and not the PD as a whole. After some time the interview ended with Harold and Ron explaining that he would find out in a meeting if he was successful and if he wasn't they would reach out to him and give him some feedback. Matthew left the interview happy with his responses to the questions as well as hopeful that he would be successful.
A few weeks later, at a meeting in Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office, Ron announced that he would like to offer Matthew the position of a sergeant for the Paleto Bay Sheriff's Department, which he of course accepted with zero hesitation. He gave a short speech thanking his fellow officers and talked about how happy he is with his shift and the future of it.
== Sergeant Phase ==
Focusing on the Certifications
A couple of days after becoming a sergeant for the Paleto Bay Sheriff's Department, Matthew received a phone call from Kate McNamara stating that she would be promoting him, as well as Veronica Wilson, to Detective Supervisor in the CID. At the next meeting, she announced the promotion. With this new rank in mind, Matthew decided he wanted to focus on finding members of the PD to join the certification, as at this point the number of detectives had dwindled. He had a couple of people in mind: Amelia Casanova who he had worked on cases in the past; Austin Stark, who had previously been a lawyer and had a good mind for investigations; and Nicholas Mendoza, who Matthew had worked with on many cases as well as in SPEED. After discussions with Kate about these people, Nicholas would be invited to join the certification within a week or so, while both Amelia and Austin would need more time as deputies before being given an invitation.
Meanwhile in SPEED, Matthew, after talking to Kip Dwyer about the state of the certification to no avail, decided to take matters into his own hands and act as the Shift 1 SPEED supervisor the department needed in his opinion. He reached out to his superiors (Heather Ashford, Lily Bloom and Adrian Booker) about his issues with shift 1 SPEED. He also began hosting a weekly SPEED training session in VR that various members of the certification attended and stated they enjoyed. After a few weeks of hosting the SPEED sessions, Booker met up with Matthew and promoted him, within SPEED, to probationary shift 1 supervisor. After a week as a probationary supervisor, Matthew was officially made a full supervisor within SPEED.
Poaching For Paleto
With the certifications Matthew was in running somewhat smoothly, he put his effort into trying to build up not just shift 1, but the entire Paleto Bay Sheriff's Department. With Stephanie Meyer being promoted into the Sergeant position alongside him, shift 1 was looking relatively successful, however they were lacking numbers and cadets. So when the shift 1 job fair was announced, Matthew jumped on the opportunity to talk some new cadets round to joining the sub-department. This lead to two recruits joining, Claire Alasse and Tadhg McQuillen.
With more members in shift 1, and Marik Chapman and Bill Raptor helping during shift 3 to get more members, Paleto began to thrive and expand. One day during a quieter shift, everyone met at the Paleto Bay Sheriff's Office and talked about a furniture order which should have been delivered to the Paleto station, but ended up in Grapeseed due to Ron not changing the mailing address from his old department. The group went on a skirmish to the Grapeseed Sheriff's Station to retrieve the items (a dog bed, filing cabinet, chest of draws and a small table for Luke Bear's Bear Cave). However just as the group began to leave, an angry Harold StockHerd Well accused the group of stealing items from his hanger. After discussions they resolved the issue and the Paleto station got some new decorations.
After working a case or two in the city a few days later, Matthew set his eyes on the next person he wished to join Paleto, Nikov Time (a shift 2 Los Santos Sheriff's Department deputy). Matthew believed that he would be perfect in helping to lead shift 2 Paleto and would eventually make a great sargeant. However this never came to fruition. However, the PBSD got a huge interest and the roster for the sub-department increased even without poaching.
Even Government Employees Can Commit Crimes
At the end of a long shift for Matthew, thing took a turn when a panicked Cora Hartley called him and informed him off some strange texts she had been receiving. These texts were threatening her safety if she did not follow the instructions and get them a scuba suit. Matthew told her to not respond further as the more information she gave them, the more power they would have. This however proved difficult for Cora and in the end the mysterious texter told her she had seven days until something would happen to her. 
A few days later, another Department of Corrections worker, Sven Wallin, ended up in a situation where they defended themself. In the process of defending themself they killed an individual and then fled the scene of the crime. The PD found his gun's casing and he was brought in for questioning by Matthew and Astrid Olsen. During the interrogation it became apparent to both Matthew and Astrid that he had tried to defend himself, however had not followed the correct method to stand his ground. That same day, Cora had called Matthew explaining how scared she was, so Matthew contacted friend and DA Sati Kai to try and help. Sati allowed Cora to stay with her to keep her safe and hidden. 
Over the following days, Sven confessed to involuntary manslaughter under the Sloan Act, meaning that after a set amount of time this charge would be taken off his record. Cora stayed in hiding, continuing to stay with Sati where she enjoyed baking cookies and watching films that she had never seen like Madagascar.