25 recruits graduate from Pittsburgh police academy

Twenty-five police recruits became officers Friday upon graduating from the Pittsburgh police training academy, joining what Chief Scott Schubert called “the family in blue.”

“It’s a family that sees the humanity in our officers when others may not,” Schubert said. “Our officers aren’t robots. They bleed, they hurt, they care, they have families, they have problems and, yes, they make mistakes.”

The recruit class, which has spent the last eight months in the academy, included three women and natives of India, Iraq and Ireland.

New officer Devon Crippen, 28, received the class’s marksmanship award, which goes to the recruit with the highest score on their firearms test. She is the first female recruit to receive the honor.

She credited the instructors at the range for helping her hone her shooting skills.

The new officers now begin three months of field training, where they will be paired with field training officers in various parts of the city.

“We want our officers to be part of the communities they protect, and we make sure they leave here knowing that they are the community,” said Sgt. Colleen Bristow, who teaches in the training academy. “They’re not just police officers, they are guardians.”

Schubert, too, stressed that officers must be community members as well as protectors.

“For us to be successful, there must be trust and partnership with the police and community – it has to be a two-way street,” he said. “There’s so much more to law enforcement than fighting crime and keeping people safe. Serving others is a big part of who we are.”

Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich reminded the recruits that they now become role models – not just for the community, but for future classes of recruits as well.

“One day, you may very well be called upon to mentor and guide a new class of officers in the same position that you are in here today,” Hissrich said. “They will be thankful to have mentors as dedicated and experienced as you are and will be.”

A full list of academy graduates:

Jacob Botzenhart

Clay Brough

Anthony Cancilla

Craig Claflin

Devon Crippen

Brayden Davies

Jeffrey Farrell

Alexander Franks

Arjun Gopalakrishnan

Alexa Harleman

Ryan Henry

Alexander herstine

Mudhafer Jasim

Joshua Kehr

Brandon Large

Stefan Lawson

Patrick Martin

Zachariah Norman

Jonathan Novak

Joseph Ostrowski

Kelliane Russell

Joseph Stipetich

Jarrad Weiss

Benjamin Wenzel

Zachary Yates

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter @meganguzaTrib.