The City of Danville has four new probationary police officers following a swearing-in ceremony this (Wednesday) morning. Police Chief Christopher Yates says Elijah Nardoni, Gaige Wright, Logan Appleman, and Ryan Mullins will be leaving Sunday for seventeen weeks of training at the University of Illinois’ Police Training Institute. Yates outlined what will happen once that is completed…
{AUDIO: “When they get back then they’ll have an additional minimum of 17 weeks with a field training officer. They will actually rotate between three to four training officers. It’s very scheduled training – very task-specific (and) documented. And once they get through that it’s evaluated and we determine whether or not they go to the next stage.}
(Logan Appleman, Ryan Mullins, Gaige Wright, Elijah Nardoni)
Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr., noted that he has sworn-in a lot of officers since he took office….
{AUDIO: “Today we swore-in our 39th through 43rd officers – and so that’s insane. In terms of sworn personnel that’s almost two-thirds of our force we’ve sworn-in over the last five years.”}
(Mayor Williams addressing the crowd.)
Although there are many young officers on the force, Mayor Williams says they have impressed him….
{AUDIO: “I have to tell you, they have a lot of integrity. They’ve shown a lot of great work ethic. And just to see the way some of the younger guys have already stepped-up. Those that we only swore-in just two, three, four years ago – some of them have already become Field Training Officers themselves. And that means that they have a lot of drive, and a lot of ambition to serve the public well. And we’re incredibly proud of that.”}
Chief Yates was asked what he hopes the new officers remember about this day….
{AUDIO: “It’s a humble honor I believe to be selected for law enforcement. It’s something you have in your mind whenever that’s what you want to do. And then you get here and sometimes it’s exactly what you want and it fills your cup. Other times it may be a little bit more – or maybe a little bit less. But either way, its going to be, you know, we’ll hold them to the standard that we require to be on this team.”}
The four new hires brings the ranks of the Danville Police Department to 69 officers. Chief Yates says one more officer needs to be hired to take the department to its allowable level of 70.
DANVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT RELEASE:
“We are happy to welcome four more sworn Probationary Officers to the Danville Police Department! Logan Appelman, Ryan Mullins, Gaige Wright, and Elijah Nardoni (left to right) will begin a 16-week law enforcement training course at the University of Illinois Police Training Institute next week. We wish them the best of luck at the academy!”
