At the Victory Theater in Evansville, dozens of family members, spouses, children, parents and friends wait in the audience to watch their loved one cross the stage for the Appointment Promotion and Award Ceremony on Monday.
They’ll either be sworn in as brand new EPD officers, receive a promotion, or be awarded for service beyond the normal scope of duty.
Abby Huff and her daughter are from Newburgh. They’re here to celebrate husband and father Alec Huff being sworn in.
“(I) actually went from having no police officers in my family to now I have three police officers in my family,” she said. “This is my brother in law — and then my sister actually just graduated from the academy. So now I have three police officers in my family.”
Her experience might reflect a slow but changing trend in the career of law enforcement — improving public perception in law enforcement.
The Evansville Police department is here to swear-in eight officers, which helps inch the EPD closer to their full capacity of 289 officers, said Police Chief Philip Smith.
“Currently, we're sitting at 259, which is about 30 down from where we want to be, which is the top number,” he said. “With these eight hires that puts us right at 267. So we're climbing.”
He said there’s also retirements, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and injury leaves. “So you know, it's always kind of a constant struggle to kind of fill the ranks.”
However it’s less of a struggle than it used to be. Smith said recruitment had declined since 2015, and the low point for law enforcement perception was around the year 2020. He feels the climate is improving.
“We've seen where law enforcement of municipalities have kind of struggled to get people through the door for whatever reason that may be but here,” he said. “In Evansville, we're feeling it but not feeling in as bad as some agencies elsewhere.”
The ceremony was led by the Police Merit Commission, and emceed by Sgt. Dexter Wolf. Prior to the five promotions, two awards, and eight new officer appointments, a video featuring Mayor Stephanie Terry was played, congratulating the officers.
Smith spoke to the new recruits, and to the families, encouraging them to support their family members in the EPD.
“So for those of you who are having one of the eight, in your family, take this badge and take this job on, I want you to understand what that means,” Smith said. “It means that these are now the people that are running towards gunfire when everybody else runs away. You think about that.”
He added that promotions from officer to sergeant means more responsibility. There were five promotions, most from officer to sergeant, and one promotion to lieutenant.
There were eight appointments to officer, meaning they made it past the first round of vetting and will undergo officer training. The sole woman on stage to be sworn in, was Raylynn Vires 23, of Scottsburg.
“… it feels a little scary because you're the only woman up there, and all you can hope is that they'll all still have your back the way they do their brothers,” she said. “I feel like Evansville Police Department has that for me.”
She said the public may not realize, the path to becoming an officer is not easy. “I had to take so many obstacles just to get to where I'm at.,” she said. “They went through 30 people and only got eight of us through. So it is a difficult path. And it's a difficult psychological path to take for people.”
Chris Campbell was there with her husband Marty to watch their son Kyle Campbell along with officer Nick Meeks, receive the Lifesaver Award, for running into burning homes to save the lives of humans and even pets inside.
“There are so few people that are willing to become police officers because of the controversy and the danger that they maybe in,” Campbell said. “So to recognize those that are willing to take that risk to staff sacrifice to help the community, it will help encourage others to potentially want to do this as a career.”
Chief Smith said these ceremonies are also good for morale within the department, and that the perception of law enforcement overall is improving.
“So I think the pendulum swinging back, you're not looking at the media and you're not hearing it as much people attacking police officers. I think this country is realizing the importance of law enforcement. I think law enforcement is recognizing the importance of community policing, and being involved in the community instead of just policing it alone.”
Abby Huff says it’s important for the community to value their officers.
“It's kind of a reciprocal thing,” she said. “You know, the police are there to support the community, and the community should also be supporting the police officers.”
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- PROMOTIONS -
Darren Richardson to Sergeant 5225
Corey Nutt to Sergeant 5226
Aaron Fair to Lieutenant 488
Jacklyn Holden to Sergeant 5227
Michael DeBlanc to Sergeant 5228
- AWARDS -
Life Saver Award:
Officer Nick Meeks
Officer Kyle Campbell
- APPOINTMENTS -
Jordan Rundle 1600
Raylynn Vires 1601
Justin Homberg 1602
Joshua Rauscher 1603
Nathaniel Byers 1604
Chase Hale 1605
Alec Huff 1606
Michael Bailey 1607