YPD swears in three new officers

By Joe Gorman | January 23, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The three new police officers sworn in Friday are not exactly strangers to the job.

Sworn in by Mayor John A. McNally during a ceremony in city council chambers were Josh Rivers, 25, of Youngstown, who worked for the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office; Greg Tackett, 26, of Niles, who worked for the Vienna Police Department; and Mike Manis, 27, of Boardman, who worked for the Coitsville and Columbiana police departments.

The three are expected to begin work Monday with their respective training officers, and will go through four to six months of training before they are assigned their own beat.

Police Chief Robin Lees said the three were hired to offset a wave of retirements in the patrol division over the last couple of years. He said the new hires also will help the department in staffing the Community Police Unit, which began operations last summer, because the unit is made up of patrol officers, and the new hires take their place on the road.

Lees said for someone in law enforcement, Youngstown is a good place to work because it is the largest department in the area and it offers a variety of assignments, so he is not surprised that officers from other departments want to work here. Officers also get a benefits package and chances for promotion that don’t come from smaller departments.

Manis, Rivers and Tackett all said they were attracted to Youngstown because of the different units and chances for advancement through the ranks.

Rivers, a graduate of Chaney High School, also said he wanted to work in his hometown.

“I wanted to be a police officer where I lived my whole life,” Rivers said.

“There’s a lot of heritage in this town,” Tackett said. “This is where a police officer wants to work.”

Manis, who was a part- time officer for two years, said while holding his 2-year-old daughter, Sophie, that he is looking forward to working in the city.

Manis and Rivers are both graduates of the police academy at Youngstown State University, while Tackett is a graduate of the academy at Kent State University.

In 2015, the department added 17 new officers to the patrol ranks.

The department will be giving a civil-service exam for entry-level patrol officers March 5. Sign-ups for the exam will be Feb. 16-26.