3 of 4 new officers inSFlbWarren are veterans

By Tim Yovich

The priority in the city is its safety forces, the mayor said.

WARREN — Three of four men sworn in Thursday as city police officers are military veterans, and the new hires bring the police department to nearly full authorized strength.

Taking the oath administered by Safety-Service Director William “Doug” Franklin were Mathew Hartman of Leavittsburg, Patrick Cox of Austintown, John Marks of Deerfield and Trevor Sumption of Struthers.

Cox, Marks and Sumption are veterans.

Their joining the force brings the number in the department to 83, one shy of its authorized strength.

Police Chief John Mandopoulos said that the number can be deceiving, because one officer who is in the military reserves will be called to active duty, followed by “several others.”

Mayor Michael J. O’Brien took the swearing in as an opportunity to point out that the city is not laying off employees, despite more demands on the city budget and a declining economy.

“It’s obvious that the priority in the city is its safety forces,” the mayor said.

Cox, 24, is a 2001 graduate of Mineral Ridge High School and served in the Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005, including two tours of duty in Iraq as a scout-sniper. He was a sergeant.

He was cited for combat valor when he stopped an improvised explosive device from being activated.

Like some of the other new officers, Cox said he joined the department to help others.

“I joined to help people,” he said, adding office work is not exciting to him.

Hartman, 24, is a 2003 graduate of LaBrae High School and in 2007 received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Youngstown State University.

“I like to help people,” Hartman said, adding that he doesn’t like the repetition factory work would involve.

“I wanted to be a policeman since I was a kid,” Hartman said.

Marks, 33, is a 1993 graduate of Southeast High School in Palmyra. He served in the Army for five years and in the reserves six years. He was stationed in Panama and at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

He was a sergeant as a military police investigator and joined the police department to continue police work.

Sumption, 33, is originally from Kansas City, Mo., where he graduated in 1993 from Kearney Senior High School. He is studying criminal justice at YSU.

After serving in the Navy from 1993 to 1996, where he worked maintenance on the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, he was a Mahoning County deputy sheriff working in the county jail.

Sumption said he joined the city department because he no longer wanted to work in a jail atmosphere.

yovich@vindy.com