A national public radio report this week focused on a shortage of full-time sworn police officer in some communities across the country. Lexington Police Commander Brian Maynard says that’s not the case in Fayette County.
The NPR report includes a reference to young workers who may be skeptical about the profession because of highly publicized cases of police brutality. Maynard says the Lexington police department’s proactive approach seems to be appreciated by the community. “We’re fortunate that here locally we haven’t had those. That may be because of pro-activeness on our side or just because how we handle our expectations and our training. So we hope to be that leader in going down that road of expectations and providing those standards for ourselves,” said Maynard.
Twenty police recruits participated in a graduation ceremony Thursday in Lexington. Maynard says the current police numbers at 610 are likely to remain at that level a year from now, even with retirements and resignations.
One of those recruits, Leon Buchanan says he knew this was a profession he wanted to be involved in following his first ride along with an officer. “That ride along that night and seeing how those officers got a chance to get out there in the community, how they treated people, and how they dealt with people. This is me. This is what I want to do. I want to be in the community. I want to treat people fairly and I want to be that positive role model that people can look up and say, ‘hey that guy is a great guy, he’s a good officer,” said Buchanan.
Maynard said another recruit class is expected to be in place in the spring.
