Toledo welcomes 22 new police officers, arson investigator
Jun. 5—Toledo police Chief George Kral presented police badges to the city's 22 newest officers Friday, telling them he was proud of them for completing their training despite the added adversity of the pandemic and increased violence.
"You've been in training during some of the most tumultuous times in our nation's history.... Yet you are still here.... I cannot tell you how proud I am of all of you," he said, noting that 61 law-enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty since the new officers started their training in October, including Toledo police Officer Brandon Stalker, who was killed Jan. 18.
The 67th Toledo Police Academy graduation ceremony was at Owens Community College's center for fine and performing arts in Perrysburg Township. About 150 people attended the 60-minute event during which Toledo Fire Chief Brian Byrd also presented an arson investigator's badge to Kathryn Brown, a Toledo firefighter who will be assigned to the police and fire departments' combined fire investigation unit.
Officer Guadalupe Victoria of the graduating class, a 34-year-old Army veteran and a mother of three, said she was happy to be graduating from the training, which was "difficult every step of the way."
The fact that her children weren't at school because of the pandemic made it even harder for her, she said.
But her commitment to become a police officer did not waiver, because it was a longtime dream, she said.
Officer Spencer Hastedt, 28, a former Defiance police officer, said he, too, never doubted his commitment, though he "knew a couple cadets who did."
"This is something I always wanted to do," he said, adding that becoming a police officer in a larger city like Toledo was a challenge he could not pass up.
The graduating class, which began in October, consisted of 15 men and nine women, of whom 15 were white, two Black, five Hispanic, and two Asian or Pacific Islander, according to the police department. The class started with 24 cadets and an arson investigator candidate.
With the 22 new graduates, the Toledo sworn police force increases from 583 to 605.
The new officers will be on probation for a year, including five months of field training with a veteran officer.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, who also spoke at the ceremony, announced that come October 50 new cadets will begin their training as the 68th Toledo Police Academy class.
Mayor Kapszukiewicz committed during his campaign in the fall of 2017 to hire 40 new police officers each year.
While congratulating the graduates of 66th Toledo Police Academy Class during a graduation ceremony in February, 2020, the mayor said he had also promised that by the end of his term as mayor, the department would have 660 officers.
His term ends at the end of the year, but he is running for reelection.
First Published June 4, 2021, 8:54pm
