By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Two new faces will be roaming the streets of Bucyrus with a promise to serve and protect with the swearing in of new police officers Jason Pennington and Chris Hulsmeyer. Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser presided over the ceremonies Wednesday in Council Chambers.
“This is a big day for the city, and a monumental day. We have the voters to thank for this when they passed the safety services levy,” Reser said.
Upon being sworn in both Hulsmeyer and Pennington thanked Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke as well as their fellow police officers.
Koepke explained the importance of bringing in the newest members of the police force.
“Our staffing is now catching up to where we want to be, where we are authorized to be, so we can schedule our officers to both patrol the streets adequately and investigate more thoroughly complaints as they come in,” Koepke said.
Koepke described what roles the new officers will take on.
“The first three months they are in a field training officer period where they will be with another officer working all three shifts staggered on the schedule. So that Jason, who doesn’t know the streets, well he is going to learn the neighborhoods and geography. Chris has been with LifeStar for 10 years so he already has a head start on knowing the geography and everything,” Koepke said. “They will start out like everybody answering the phone first, learning how our system works, and then they will be on the street. After about three months they will be taking the full-time duty on the schedule with the other officers.”
Hulsmeyer, a Wynford graduate and member of the Lykens Township Fire Department, served as EMT with LifeStar for 10 years.
Pennington graduated from River Valley and served in the U.S. Army with two tours of duty in Iraq.