Four sworn in as Lynn police officers

LYNN – Four new police recruits will hit the streets today fulfilling, for most of them, a lifelong dream.Nikolai Boshko, Mark Duran, Robert Mason and Michael Pennell graduated from the Police Academy in Reading Tuesday, were sworn in Wednesday and, according to Deputy Chief Leonard Desmarais, after another day and a half of in-house training will be ready to roll.”He’s wanted this since the fourth grade,” said Mason’s mother, Heather Callanan. “At least he’s home. This is a little easier.”Mason spent four years in the Marine Corps and survived two combat deployments, although he was wounded during his second tour, he said. Being a police officer is something that has always been in his blood and, more precisely, “I’ve always wanted to be a Lynn cop,” he said.The fact that he has a number of family members who are also police officers and he played football for Lynn English High School where several of the coaches were police officers only fed his desire.Boshko admitted he got some idea of what it would be like to be an American police officer from movies. Boshko became a naturalized citizen in 2002 and decided shortly thereafter he wanted to be a police officer to help people.”I’m sure it will be pretty different from the movies,” he said, smiling. “There are expectations and realizations and hopefully somewhere in between will be the reality.”Pennell said the 120 hours he put in interning with the police department while getting a degree in criminal justice made him realize that he liked the work.”Plus I was with the DOC (Department of Corrections) for three years, and I wanted to serve from the other side,” he added.Duran also holds a degree in criminal justice, but that isn’t where he started.”I was a teacher at Pickering (Middle School),” he said. “I had a couple of different career paths.”Being a police officer, like family members he admired, won out, he said.”It’s the ability to help people and do good,” he said.Desmarais said the four will spend the next several months working every shift and trying out every department until they receive their assignments. He said it’s good to have them working with a variety of officers because everyone does things a little differently.The four are lucky they made the cut. In June Police Chief Kevin Coppinger told the City Council he had five recruits he had planned to send to the academy but, due to budget cuts, that plan would be shelved. Desmarais confirmed the four men were the last in the academy for at least the time being.The four new officers bring the department up to about 190 officers, Desmarais said.”We’ve been hanging around 185 to 190 for awhile,” he added. “That’s pretty much our working strength.”The four new officers were not the only ones sworn in this week. Tuesday Capt. Michael Mageary was sworn in as the new deputy chief, replacing the recently retired Kenneth Santoro.”We’ve very happy for Mike,” Desmarais said. “He’s been with the department for a long time. We’re really happy for him.”