Three new Lynn police officers sworn in

LYNN – Taylor Kolakowski was barely home from Afghanistan when he took the civil service test with the goal of becoming a police officer.”It’s scary,” said his mother, Jacalyn Kolakowski. “But at the same time you’re proud of him.”Jacalyn and Randy Kolakowski were on hand Friday to watch as their youngest son, along with Ronald Diaz and Joseph Curley were sworn in by City Clerk Mary Audley on their first official day of work as Lynn police officers.”It feels great,” said Curley.Like his companions, Curley, a Lynn English alumnus, served in the military prior to becoming a police officer. Curley spent four years in the Marines, from 2008 to 2012. He and Diaz both said they were encouraged to find a job where they could continue to serve and give back when they left the military.For Diaz, choosing to become a police officer was almost second nature. He grew up in the Bronx, went to high school in Lawrence and when he left the Marine Corps in 2007 he found his way to Lynn, where he said he liked the diversity and decided to stay.With his swearing on Friday, Diaz, according to his mother, carried on a family tradition three generations deep.”My father was a police officer back in my country,” said the Dominican Republican native. “Both of his grandfathers and his father were policemen and in the military.”While his mother insisted she was simply happy for her son his fiancé, Sorangie Davis, admitted she was a little nervous but also “full of confidence that he will excel.”The new recruits bring the department up to 181 officers, according to Chief Kevin Coppinger.Monday Coppinger will sit down with Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to discuss sending job offer letters to five additional candidates.”Then we’ll start the process for another six ? but that will be at least a year out before they’re hired,” he said.According to Coppinger, Diaz, Kolakowski and Curley and the five candidates to come have been hired as a result of attrition, filling slots left open by retired officers.The six additional candidates, however, are being funded through a grant that will pay their salary for three years. Coppinger said the department will be responsible to keep them on the job one more year after the grant expires, and then their job status will hinge on the budget process.”I’m at the end of one of those grants now,” he said. “Going into (Fiscal year) 2014 I will be short some money for salaries.”Kennedy said she has already made a notation in her budget to find the money to keep the officers on the job.”We’re in good shape,” she said.When Kennedy took office in 2009 her campaign speech included hiring additional public safety personnel, and she said she feels she has kept that promise and then some.When she moved into the corner office, staffing levels hovered between 161 and 166 for both police and fire departments. Today the Fire Department has about 180 staffers and Coppinger said his department stands at about 193, including the 11 future recruits.”We haven’t had 193 since the mid ’90s,” he said.Randy Kolakowski said he wasn’t surprised that his son became one of those officers Friday.”He always said it was what he wanted, and he worked his butt off to get it,” he said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].