MANCHESTER, NH – On March 7 Manchester Police will welcome 15 new recruits to the force, bringing their ranks to 233 sworn officers – just four shy of a full complement.
And Assistant Chief Carlo Capano couldn’t be happier about the outcome of the department’s latest round of testing.
“We are in great shape and potentially, by this summer, there’s a very good possibility of being at full complement,” says Capano.
Back in November 375 potential recruits signed up for the initial test. Of those who signed up, 283 showed up, and of those, 160 passed the first assessment and qualified to go on to the oral board exams. Of those, 103 qualified to go on to the final round of testing, says Capano.
The end result was 12 hires, with an additional three sworn officers joining Monday’s swearing in ceremony – two of them having served full time with other police departments, in Dover and Lyndeborough, and another from Massachusetts.
After the ceremony, all 15 will go through Manchester’s in-house academy, graduating August 7. They then will move into the Field Training program, finally ready to hit the streets as solo officers in late fall. The process, from initial testing to hitting the ground running is about a year, Capano says.
“And there were a still a few more we could look at – some deferred because they hadn’t graduated from college yet, but potentially we have a dozen more qualified candidates, and could hire four more out of that group, which would get us to full complement,” Capano says.
The other good news is that, because of the successful hiring process this time around, the department will likely be able to forgo the routine testing process this spring, something they have had to do twice annually for the past several years.
Demographically, the new group of officers also adds some diversity – two female officers, one Hispanic male officer and one black male officer, says Capano. Two of the new officers are bilingual – one speaks Spanish and the other, Greek. Four of the new officers are military veterans.
“It’s a good mix in this group, and we really encourage, and like to see, all kinds of ethnic backgrounds that are more reflective of our community coming on to the force. It’s a real asset for Manchester Police Department,” Capano says.
More good news is that there are no scheduled retirements in the pipeline, compared to last year where there were 21 retirements in the first two months of 2015. That means, demographically, Manchester Police Department organically becoming a younger police force.
“There are two ways to look at it,” Capano says. “We’re a young department age-wise, a lot of our officers are coming in right out of college. But we do have that mixed group who are a little older, whether they’re military veterans or transitioning from another field, so they come to us in their 30s or 40s.”
He says anymore, “new hire” can describe someone between the age of 21 and 46.
“So yes, we’re a young agency, but with a good mix of age coming in, we have a solid mix,” says Capano, who will be celebrating 20 years of service later this year.
The new recruits join Manchester’s police force at a time when the danger and difficulty of the profession are in sharp focus. On Feb. 26 Merrimack native Officer Ashley Guindon, 28, of the Prince William County Police Department in Virginia was fatally shot while answering a domestic call. It was her first night on the job.
“That was an extreme tragedy,” Capano says. “It’s a nightmare, is what it is – for her, her agency her family, and her field training officer.”
Although most new recruits know what the risks and dangers are when they choose police work, part of the training process includes dealing with staying safe in all kinds of situations.
“Police work is difficult. It’s a dangerous job. It takes a special person to want to be a police officer, to do the training and do the job, not knowing what’s on the other end of that call,” Capano says.
“Especially with the way things are going right now, so many officers being shot, attacked, ambushed,” Capano says. “It’s not going well for law enforcement right now because, unfortunately, you don’t have people supporting law enforcement.”
He cites the erosion of retirement benefits, and the growing trend of people going out of their way to antagonize an officer just to post a video clip on so
cial media, as some examples.
“Everyone wants to point out the negatives. We just don’t hear much support for law enforcement officers. For example, when you hear about an officer being shot, like Officer Guindon in Virginia, you don’t hear people speaking out about that. Mainly, just from within the law enforcement community, and I think that’s where people start losing sight of what we do,” Capano says.
“That’s what I mean when I say it takes a special person to want to be a police officer. They keep working every day, and keep pushing themselves to do what‘s expected, no matter what the situation, to keep our community safe,” Capano says.
Manchester’s new officers will be sworn in during a public ceremony at the Radisson Hotel on March 7 at 10 a.m.
