Markeshia Ricks Photo
jasmine Sanders, one of 10 African-Americans in the new class.
A new class of police recruits ran past their final hurdle, as the department overcame a hurdle of its own — finding black and Latino and officers.
While previous classes have been overwhelmingly white, 54 percent of the 37-member class that begins the academy on Nov. 10 are black or Latino.
Joe Santiago joined other recruits at Coxe Cage Friday undergoing the final physical-agility tests required to enter the class. Recruits have to show they’re fitness by performing a minute of sit-ups, a minute of push-ups and a timed run. The timed run is 40 percent of the agility test, which also includes a demonstration of flexibility.
Santiago said he’s always wanted to be a police officer because he wants to be a positive influence on young people, particularly Hispanic youth. “With the amount of Hispanic culture in New Haven, I believe that as a police officer I could do a lot to set a good example,” he said.
Santiago (pictured) is one of 10 Hispanic men entering the November class, constituting 27 percent. The calls also includes 10 African-Americans, two of them female.
Jasmine Sanders (pictured at the top of the story), one of two black women accepted for the November class, said though she was aware that the department was struggling to recruit minorities, she wasn’t drawn in by the push for diversity. She was drawn by the city’s commitment to community policing. Women represent 9 percent of the recruits for the November class.
The 26-year-old from West Haven said she likes the department’s emphasis on building relationships and trust with the community. She, too, said she was interested in being a role model for young people too.
Though Eric Eisenhard (in the yellow jersey in the photo) might seem like a more typical police academy recruit — he’s white and male — he’s actually a little older than his fellow recruits. The average age of the November class is 26. Eisenhard is 32.
Like his fellow recruits Santiago and Sanders, Eisenhard was drawn to the community policing program.
“I think in general that the trust of people in the city police is lacking and I wanted to hopefully help change that and bring it back to where it used to be,” he said.
The department is 85 percent male, 56 percent white, and 26 percent African-American. The current academy class of 35 cadets has four females (11 percent), five African-Americans (14 percent), five Hispanics. The previous class had just a single African-American (4 percent) out of 25 graduates, according to information provided by city human resources chief Stephen Librandi.
Sgt. Mary Helland, lead coordinator for recruiting, said that many of the Nov. 10 class were recruited not with social media, but by family members who heard that NHPD was hiring and passed the information along.
If the Nov. 10 class is to be judged by its performance on the agility test Friday, word of mouth netted the police academy a solid group that is at the very least physically fit. All but two of the 37 passed their fitness tests at Coxe Cage Friday morning and the two who didn’t missed it by a few seconds on the run. Helland said the two recruits who didn’t pass will have an opportunity retest on Nov. 10, the first day of academy, and if they pass they will be immediately accepted as part of the class.