MANSFIELD — It’s been at least four years since the Mansfield Police Department swore in a class of recruits this big, as far as Chief Jason Bammann can recall.
The department swore in nine new probational officers Monday morning. They include Nathaneal E. Roseberry, Cory J. Hickman, Taylor P. Russell, Logan M. Burkhart, Noah W. Hallbrook, Collin J. Neumann, Joseph T. Renfrow, Gabriela Lopez and Zander C. Noel.
“We were ecstatic,” Bammann said. “I hate to use the cliché ‘moving in the right direction,’ but nine is a huge number.”
After a brief celebration, the group began their departmental training Monday morning.
They’ll report to the North Central State College Police Academy later this month for basic peace officer training, then spend 14 weeks in the Mansfield Police Department’s field training officer program.
“This was a huge opportunity for us to be able to be fully staffed for the first-time in at least five years,” Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry said.
In order to begin a career in law enforcement, would-be police officers must take a written test, followed by a physical agility test.
Bammann said when he took his written test in 1999, he was one of 600 hopefuls.
“Now, we’re lucky to get 30 to 40,” he said. “Out of those 30 to 40, we usually have 15 to 20 that pass the written test.”
The physical agility test usually narrows the field to between five and 10 applicants, Bammann said. In the end, two or three people typically make the final cut.
Bammann said it was evident early on that this class of recruits had something special.
“We had, I think, 15, and there were 13 total that passed,” Bammann said. “We could feel it was just something different with this group — a lot of young, driven kids. It just felt different.”
Recruits have a year of training ahead
The Mansfield Police Department is currently budgeted for a roster of 90 and has 77 fully-trained, uniformed officers. An additional three candidates graduated from the police academy at North Central State College last week.
“We send all of our current candidates to (North Central) State. We work very well with them, and they put on an excellent academy,” Bammann said.
The department currently has 77 officers who are fully trained and in the field and three that just graduated from the police academy. The department is set to swear in one more officer in December.
The department is budgeted for 87 officers, but will have a total of 90 (including trainees) after the December swearing in.
Perry said the department is bringing on a few extra officers in anticipation of several retirements next year.
“The recruits go through a whole year of training before they hit the streets, so we wanted to be able to bring all nine on at once,” Perry said. “We were able to do that financially because we were understaffed part of the year and our budgeted amount had room.”