LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Applause erupted several times in the Orleans today as family, friends, and colleagues cheered for 49 new Las Vegas Metro Police Department recruits.
Among the 02-2022 class, all branches of the U.S. military, five countries, nine bachelor's degree graduates, and 2 graduate school graduates were represented. One woman was apart of the new class. The new officers range from 22 to 47 years old
Larry Gordon just retired from playing basketball overseas. He always knew that he wanted to be a police officer after growing up in California and wants to inspire younger generations to join the force.
"The biggest goal and what I want to do as a police officer is inspire other youth. It doesn’t matter what ethnicity. Despite what society sees police officers as, police officers are good people," says Gordon.
While crime is up nationally, Metro is proud of statistics showing some crime is down this year in the valley. There's been a drop in homicide offenses, aggravated assaults, drug, and narcotic offenses, and total property crimes.
Ruslan Shumlyakovskiy, a graduate from Ukraine transferred from Nevada Highway Patrol to Metro. He says he knows there's a lot to learn in the field when it comes to keeping Las Vegas safe.
"One thing is the knowledge received during the academy which is mostly academic. Now you have to apply the knowledge received to the day to day duties of the police officer," said Shumlyakovskiy.
Metro's next academy class is completely full. Metro says their recruiting has been going well. Still, there can never be too many officers protecting Las Vegas.
Today's graduates enter a diverse and growing local community where Metro has made strides fighting crime. The new recruits speak multiple languages including Russian, Spanish, Korean, and Farsi to better serve valley residents.
