13 new Louisville police recruits join the force

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Metro Police Department welcomed 13 new officers Friday in a ceremony at Southeast Christian Church.

Mayor Craig Greenberg and Chief Paul Humphrey administered the oath of office and welcome them to the ranks of LMPD.

"I can't even describe the feeling," said Seth Maraman, one of the new officers. "I feel like a million bucks. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

The class includes four recruits with prior military experience and one has previous law enforcement experience.

"It's a great feeling, because we work so hard for this," said Joseph Adams, another one of the new recruits. "To get to where we are today, it's the best feeling I've had in a long time."

The department is currently still short about 300 officers, but the next recruit class will have 33 people. And while the recruitment is trending up, Humphrey said it still falls short of his stated goal, which is three 48-recruit classes per year.

"If we want to get this work done, we need to have not just number of people but the right people," Humphrey said during a news conference Thursday discussing Friday's graduation. ".... This job is not easy. We can't make it easy but we can make people very proud of where they work."

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