The Centralia Police Department has sworn in two new officers.
One of the new officers is a familiar face. Faith Leadingham has been a 911 dispatcher for the City of Centralia for the past two years.
The other new officer, Kayla Matthews, has worked as a prison guard for the Illinois Department of Corrections and most recently has been pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice.
Police Chief Christopher Locke says both officers have gone through an extensive pre-employment screening process and will attend 16 weeks of training at the SWIC Police Academy which begins on January 8th. Upon their successful completion at the Academy, they will return to the Department and complete 12 additional weeks of field training before being released to solo patrol.
Locke says both officers have expressed a strong desire to serve and department leadership feels they will make a tremendous, positive impact for the Centralia community.
With the two new officers, Locke says they are still one officer shy of their 26 authorized strength. He expects the other opening to be filled with a transfer of an experienced officer as a review of those candidates is currently underway.
