Three Future S.O. Cops Enrolled in Police Academy

The South Orange police department will welcome three new officers to its ranks in mid-February, once they complete the 22-week Police Academy training in Cedar Grove.

It was announced at a Board of Trustee meeting last month that a decision had been made to move forward with the hiring of three new police officers, even though the Village's application for stimulus funds to offset the cost was denied.

Zavian Bryant, John DeGroot and Thomas Horton—all South Orange residents, which is a requirement for new officers—were informed of their hires in mid-August and started at the Academy last week. They said they were ecstatic to hear the news, since they had taken the civil service test in May 2008, had interviews and background checks last February and heard nothing since. The news about the Village's denied application for a COPS grant also made the hiring of new officers seem more unlikely.

The three new officers have different reasons for wanting to join the force. Bryant, 24, says the idea was first put in his head two years ago by a friend. ("'You have the cop attitude; you like to help people,'" he recalled being told.) DeGroot, 24, who's originally from Sparta but went to Seton Hall for college, had uncles he admired who were police officers. And Horton, 26, worked for seven years in security at St. Barnabas and had ex-policemen colleagues who encouraged him to take the civil service test.

All say that their families and friends have been encouraging.

"Everyone was supportive," said Horton, a 2001 Columbia High School graduate who, along with DeGroot, used to work as a 911 responder out of police headquarters. "My wife's a little afraid, but other than that, everybody's really happy."

With the addition of three new men, the police force is up to 53 officers, according to Chief James Chelel, who commended the Board of Trustees for going through with the hires in light of the Village's budget constraints. The department was once staffed by 57 officers.

While Bryant, DeGroot and Horton are reporting to South Orange headquarters this week to get acquainted with their future colleagues, they'll spend the rest of the training period with their class of 52 at Cedar Grove, where they're required to report and be in formation at 7 a.m. They agreed that adjusting to the uniform is easy.

"You don't have to think about what you're going to wear to work," DeGroot said.