UPD swears in new officers

Fourteen new officers were sworn in to the Utica Police Department on Friday.

Department were sworn in this morning.

All had masks on and all are entering the profession at a time like no other.

News channel two's gary liberatore was at the ceremony and has more on what these recruits are thinking heading into this brand new career.

Tc : 28:13 "edgardo colon....nat of applause... (((( do not font him here - most of this is covered (((( ) tc : 08:04 "ive always wanted to become you pd and work my butt off to try and get here and i finally made it here so todays very exciting."

Edgardo colon is one of 14 uticans who have made it to this 'stage' in their lives... (mayor robert palmieri, (d) utica) tc : 21:20 "it is a time in their life like weve never seen before..... (mayor robert palmieri, (d) utica) .

None .

None and the foundation of us moving forward her upon the future of our recruits at this point."

Recruits like micheal mcgovern... (michael mcgovern, new utica police recruit) tc : 06:17 "what do you think about the protest going on around the country?

I think theres a problem and im here to fix it and im gonna start with me, you have to start small and you just have to believe in your community."

(gary liberatore, news channel 2) "this is defineintely a day these new recruits will never forget, but what about their parents?

As their young child ebters a profession during a climate like we ar esiing right now."

(edgardo colon sr., father of upd recruit) tc : 02:06 "when you look over and see him sitting there waiting for the ceremony, i am so proud, i dont know, i wanna cry now and he hasnt even gotten sworn in yet&" (carmen santiago, mother of upd recruit) tc : 00:40 "its very scary but at the same time we need to police especially nowadays that everything is getting a little crazy."

(chief mark williams, utica police dept.) tc : "what do you have to say to these folks are coming into this profession right now in this climate that we're saying?

You know lately with the death of george floyd, we've seen outcry towards in law-enforcement, certainly law-enforcement can be better than what we do but here locally i think we've done pretty well we haven't seen the unrest that we've seen in other communities but it doesn't mean that we rest on our laurels."

(gary liberatore, news channel 2) "what's next for these new recruits?

26 weeks at the police academy, then 12 weeks of one on one training with another officer, so the earliest they will be n their own is sometime next spring.

In utica, gary liberatore, news channel 2.>