CRESTVIEW — Two new Crestview Police Department officers took their oaths of office and received their badges at a Thursday afternoon ceremony, as family, friends and fellow officers observed and applauded in the agency’s packed training room.
Officers James Brewer and Tyler Culbertson were classmates at the Northwest Florida State College’s Criminal Justice Program’s most recent law enforcement academy, graduating just weeks ago.
Both officers went through the Crestview Police Department’s cadet program, through which they contract to be future Crestview officers upon graduation and successfully passing the state examination.
For Brewer, receiving his badge — pinned on by his grandfather, Larry Little, who served 20 years in the Air Force — was the culmination of a lifelong dream to be a police officer.
“I’ve always admired police officers and I come from a military family,” he said. “I thought about doing the academy and becoming an officer all my life.”
A licensed Glock armorer at A&A Tactical in his previous job, helping others was high on Culbertson’s list of job criteria.
“I want to have a positive effect on other people,” he said after his fiancée, Alyssa Reisinger, pinned on his badge. “Growing up, I knew I didn’t want to have a boring job.”
Before he administered the new officers’ oaths of office, Crestview Mayor JB Whitten reflected on the importance of the city’s police officers.
“A ceremony like this is very, very important to me,” he said, “because I carry the same love and respect for law enforcement that there used to be in America, but is still alive here in Crestview.”
Police Chief Stephen McCosker said that the average Crestview resident’s respect and support for his officers makes recruitment easier than in many communities as he works to bring his ranks up to their authorized level of 51 sworn officers.
“We went from being close to 25 percent down and now we only have three slots left,” the chief said.
Brewer and Culbertson now enter the field training program in which they learn the culture and procedures of the Crestview Police Department while partnering with their respective Field Training Officer.
WANT TO BE A CRESTVIEW COP?
The Crestview Police Department welcomes inquiries by potential officers about positions in the agency. Cadet positions, in which the CPD pays a future officer while he or she is in the police academy, are also available. Visit www.crestviewpd.org or call 850-682-3544.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Two new police officers join Crestview Police Department