MANCHESTER, NH — Five new officers were sworn in Nov. 28, a class of recruits that Chief Nick Willard said he is especially proud to introduce to the public, because they represent the diversified future of the city’s police force.
“I’m particularly excited about this particular class because it’s important for me to diversify the Manchester Police Department. To have two foreign-born officers now that we just hired — one of whom was a refugee, who came to this country through the Middle East as a refugee, became a naturalized citizen, and is now going to be a Manchester Police Department [officer,] bringing an incredible amount of enrichment to our force,” said Willard, referring to Manchester resident, Officer Abdesselam M. Baddaoui Selam, a Central High School grad who was born in Algeria and speaks both Arabic and French. Officer Felipe Fagundes is a naturalized citizen of the United States who was born in Brazil.
“I’m really excited that we’re finally getting to that point where were diversifying the Manchester Police Department, and we’re doing so in a way that hopefully will reflect our community in the future,” Willard said.
Also joining the force Monday were Officer Stephanie Kooharian, a former Washington, D.C.-area officer who has served as a Federal Police Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency; Officer Jeffrey Hennessy, a former campus police officer for Merrimack College in Mass.; and Officer Miles Kirby, who has served with the Rhode Island National Guard for the past five years.
Willard said the hiring of these five officers brings the city’s police force closer to full complement than it has ever been — but still three officers shy of a 237-member full force, given one retirement on the horizon.
The officers will now go through nine months of training before they hit the streets of Manchester, Willard said.
New officer bios
Officer Abdesselam (Selam) M. Baddaoui
Officer Baddaoui, 30, was born in Algeria. He and his family moved to Syria, then Lebanon, and finally immigrated to Manchester in 2000. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006. He is a graduate of Central High School, class of 2004, and earned an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration from NH Technical Institute in Concord in 2009, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from the University of NH in 2012. Officer Baddaoui has most recently been employed as a business account executive with the Comcast Corporation. He and his wife Nancy reside in Manchester with their two sons.
Officer Felipe G. Fagundes
Officer Fagundes, 24, was born in Brazil, immigrated with his family to the United States at the age of 7, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in March 2016. He graduated from Lowell High School in Massachusetts in 2011. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in General Studies from Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2015 and is currently pursuing a master of business administration degree from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Officer Fagundes has most recently been employed as a Microsoft Expert at the Best Buy store in Nashua.
Officer Jeffrey M. Hennessy
Officer Hennessy, 24, was raised in North Andover, Mass., and is a graduate of North Andover High School, class of 2010. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 2014. He received certification as a reserve/intermittent Police Officer from the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Training Alliance in 2015, and has most recently been employed as a police officer with the Merrimack College Police Department in North Andover, Mass.
Officer Miles A. Kirby
Officer Kirby, 23, was raised in Rhode Island, and is a graduate of Barrington High School in Barrington, RI, class of 2011. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Norwich University in Vermont in 2015. Officer Kirby has been serving with the Rhode Island Army National Guard since 2011. He has most recently been employed as a security officer with Securitas Security in Warwick, RI.
Officer Stephanie M. Kooharian
Officer Kooharian, 26, was raised in Connecticut and is a graduate of Woodland Regional High School in Beacon Falls, CT, Class of 2008. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice, with a minor in sociology, from the University of New Haven in 2012. Upon graduation from college, Stephanie was appointed as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police in Washington, DC. Since 2014, she has served as a Federal Police Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency.
