Chester cops get help: 7 new officers sworn in, hit streets
Chester swears in 7 new officers to beef up city patrols
CHESTER » The Chester Police Department welcomed seven patrolmen to the ranks Wednesday at a swearing-in ceremony at Chester City Hall.
The seven new officers will begin patrolling the community alongside a tenured officer.
“All of these men are Act 120 certified through the state of Pennsylvania,” said Police Commissioner Otis Blair. “This allows our department to begin using their talents immediately by entering them into our field training phase, which consists of pairing each new officer with a veteran training officer for several weeks.”
James MacIntosh, Joshua Mann, Billy Kleinfeldt, Matthew Hughes, Edwin Colon, Adam Youssef and Brian Boerger were welcomed to the force Wednesday.
Following the Act 120 basic training at the Philadelphia Police Academy, officers hired by the Chester Police Department must take up residence within the city limits within three months of their official start date.
Additionally, each officer must reside in the city for at least five years, a requirement so that the department sees a return on their investment in the officer’s training.
The hiring of the new officers brings the Chester Police Department closer to a full complement of officers set in the city budget at 106.
Back in 1978 the full complement of officers was more than 150.
“We have spent months looking for viable persons to serve as officers in our community,” Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said. “As we move through the process of interviewing interested and qualified candidates, we also move toward the goal of equipping our police department with all the necessary resources to be the best. That is a vow I have made to them and a vow I have made to our residents.”
Last year, due to the acceleration of the Act 47 Recovery Plan, 20 full-time police officers left Chester in 2016, including officers at all levels of the force. Chief James Nolan said he started 2017 with an entirely new detective division. Wednesday’s seven new additions from the academy makes for 15 new officers in 2017, after eight were sworn in January.