New town cop gets substitute grad ceremony
GREENWICH — The Greenwich Police Department’s newest officer, Andrew Mitchell, didn’t get to participate in a formal graduation ceremony at the Connecticut Police Academy, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he had to finish up his training remotely this spring.
To celebrate his accomplishments, the department held its own graduating ceremony last week to give Mitchell and his family a milestone moment.
“For Officer Mitchell and his family, we wanted to properly memorialize this significant event in his life and his career,” Police Chief James Heavey said at the ceremony at police headquarters.
The ceremony included a musical performance, and Heavey gave a short commencement-style address discussing the “sacred trust” that underpins law enforcement. Mitchell’s mother, Irene, pinned the silver badge onto her son’s uniform at the end of the ceremony.
Mitchell is a 2013 graduate of Greenwich High School. At the University of Connecticut, he did broadcast work for the UConn sports network, covering hockey and football. After college, he worked as the director of digital platform communications for Hunt Scanlon Media, located in Greenwich. That company provides analysis, publications and media services for the talent-management industry.
He comes from a serviceoriented family. Bill Mitchell has been a volunteer firefighter, and his mother, Irene, is a nurse who volunteered with an ambulance company in town.
When he was first hired by the department in the fall, Mitchell said, “It’s always been in my blood, public service, giving back.”
As a new officer, Mitchell will undergo 12 weeks of field training in Greenwich.
The department has a staff of about 155 members, with about seven retirements a year recently.