BORDERLAND

23 peace officer grads hired by area police

12/23/2013

Several area police departments are beefing up their ranks with a new face or three.

Twenty-three members of the 130th Basic Peace Officer Class, held by the Ohio Highway Patrol, graduated Friday and will start work with their new departments.

The graduates were hired by 14 different agencies.

Hitting the streets in northwest Ohio after the 17-week course will be Adam Cox of Risingsun, Ohio; Caleb Kusmierek of Maumee, and Richard Torres of Toledo for the Bowling Green Police Department. Suiting up in an Oregon police uniform will be Eric Weis of Maumee, and patrolling Bowling Green State University with campus police is Bryan Wynn of Perrysburg.

Officer Kusmierek received top honors in the class for his physical fitness.

This is the first class to be funded by casino-tax revenue. No department had to pay for training, officials said.