New police officers start on-the-job training

Fourteen new officers will be deployed today, and five more will start after police academy training ends. In a move designed to relieve the strain many University Police officers have felt since the fall semester crime wave, 14 new officers will hit the streets today for a six-week period of on-the-job training. Division of Public Safety officials explained recently that last semester's crime increase -- in which numerous robberies culminated with the shooting of College senior Patrick Leroy on 40th Street -- expedited the hiring process, but stressed that the department had planned to hire the new officers well before September. Public Safety Managing Director Thomas Seamon formally swore in the new officers Friday, charging the nine men and five women with upholding the "dignity? of all the members of the University community." Not all of the new officers will begin their training today, however, as five officers are still in the process of completing their training at the Philadelphia Police Academy. Those officers will bring the total number of new University Police officers to 19 -- not the 24 reported in a previous Daily Pennsylvanian article. Although Seamon said he was pleased to expand the University Police force, he noted that the total number of officers -- which will stand at approximately 100 after the five officers finish their time at the academy -- is not necessarily static. "What we tried to do is gauge what was the appropriate number of people," he said. "We want it to be the right size, but we don't want it to have any fat either. If conditions change, then we're going to have to look at that again." Seamon said that he is "real happy to get [the officers] out on the street," adding that the overtime burden many officers had felt since last semester "was a strain" on current University Police officers. In the final classroom session for the new officers Friday, which took place in the Van Pelt College House Seminar Room, Sgt. Thomas Rambo -- an 11-year University Police veteran --Elaid out several ethical questions he said the officers are likely to face during their tenure at the University. "If [someone] violates 52 [parts] of the vehicle code, is it legal to write 52 tickets?" Rambo asked. "Yes," he said, answering his own question. "But is it ethical? No." Rambo also asked the officers to consider their own "personal stress" if they repeatedly make decisions that are ethically questionable. "You're most likely not going to get caught if you do something one time," he said. "What happens, greed and ethical issues, they build up." Several of the new University Police officers -- a diverse-looking group of men and women mainly in their 30s and 40s -- expressed enthusiasm about their new jobs. Chuck DeShields -- who regularly walked through the Penn campus while growing up in West Philadelphia and attending nearby University City High School -- cited financial benefits, "personal attention" and a "more relaxed" atmosphere as the main reasons he decided to join the University Police force after previous stints with the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Pittsburgh city police departments. "The college environment is less stressful as opposed to the community," the 35-year-old DeShields said, adding that he sees a "refreshing attitude" among his colleagues and supervisors. Dominic DiLorenzo, another officer new to University Police -- but also a veteran officer familiar with the area -- said he thinks the Division of Public Safety does a "first-class job" and fosters a "very professional atmosphere." "It's a learning experience for me," said DiLorenzo, who spent the past 27 years working for the Philadelphia Police Department's 18th District, which encompasses University City. "I made a good career move." Rambo said the new group "should relieve a lot of pressure" on current University Police officers, and praised the high caliber of the class he helped to train. "It appears to be a real good group," he said. "This group should be ready to be on the road a lot sooner than some other groups we had." And although DiLorenzo's new job might be a change of pace for him, he still relishes one part of the police profession. "I like getting the bad guys off the street," he said.