The city of Girard acquired an additional police officer last month with the swearing in of John B. Freeman.
Freeman, a 2003 Girard High School graduate, had previously worked as a part-time officer for Weathersfield Township. He also is attending Youngstown State University where he is pursuing a degree in criminal justice.
Judge Michael Bernard administered the oath to Freeman, who placed his left hand on a Bible held by his mother, Barbara Freeman.
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John B. Freeman of Girard was sworn in last month as the city’s newest full-time police officer. Palmer was sworn-in by Judge Michael Bernard. His mother, Barbara Freeman, held the Bible while Girard Police Chief Jeffrey Palmer, second from left, looks on.
''We are so proud of him,'' Barbara Freeman said.
Freeman also is the grandson of William Sr. and Ann Freeman.
The city was able to hire one officer due to a grant from the COPS Hiring Recovery Program. The Department of Justice CHRP program provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies having primary law enforcement authority to create and preserve jobs and to increase their community policing capacity and crime-prevention efforts.
Girard received $227,000 from the grant, which has awarded $1 billion in Recovery Act funding nationwide to state, local and tribal law enforcement to create or preserve nearly 5,000 law enforcement positions. The program has provided more than 150 new police officers in Ohio since July.
Girard currently has 16 full-time officers on its police force out of a possible 21 officers, said Girard Police Chief Jeffrey Palmer.