LYNN — Eleven new police officers will soon be patrolling city streets.
The newest members of the Lynn Police Department were officially sworn in Tuesday afternoon during a ceremony that was held behind the police station. All recent graduates of the Randolph Police Academy, they will add to the more than 180 officers who already make up the city’s police force.
The new officers are Daniel Ashwell, Cory Burt, Jonathan Cammarata, Thomas Cash, Kevin Chasse, John Devenuti, Simona Guadet, Jonathan Guzman, Matthew Lauria, Francis Pevino and Cody Sutherland.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee, who was in attendance Tuesday, congratulated the new officers for their hard work, saying that they made their mark in the academy. He recognized four officers in particular — Ashwell, Cammarata, Chasse and Devenuti — all of whom received recognition and awards during their six months of training in the academy.
Ashwell was the bearer of the academy class flag, Cammarata received the Top Gun award for his shooting proficiency, Chasse received an award for excellent physical training and Devenuti was the academy class president.
“Not only the four of you, but all of you together really did yourselves, your family and your city proud,” McGee said. “I’m really excited to have you coming on — in challenging times — but you have an opportunity to really make a difference in this community.”
Police Chief Christopher Reddy said the new officers demonstrated hard work and dedication throughout the grueling background process, exhibited physical fitness through challenging drills just to get into the academy and displayed the rigor required to get through 21 weeks of academic, tactical, first responder and firearm training exercises while in the academy.
“This is a tribute to your hard work and dedication,” Reddy said. “We’re very proud of you all. You represent a broad group of individuals in this community and beyond; some of your classmates include individuals brought up in Latvia and Haiti, as well as those who grew up right here in the city.”
Reddy acknowledged the support of friends and family throughout this training process and the road leading up to it; he encouraged the new officers to thank their support system and express their appreciation.
“You’re going to embark in a career where you face significant challenges and it’s dangerous, but you’ll also see the best in people,” Reddy said. “You’ll save lives, you’ll bring people justice, you’ll just make some people’s days better while representing the community along the way.”
Reddy told the officers to maintain the good character that has brought them this far, to stay true to their training and to “represent your support system well to have a long and successful career.”
