YPD softball game pits rookies against veteran police officers

July 31, 2017 at 12:03a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Friendly insults volleyed across the field just as fast as softballs when city police officers played recently at Pemberton Park on the city’s South Side.

The game brought back a long-standing tradition that pits veteran police officers against officers who recently joined the city police department. The game hasn’t been played for several years, and with an influx of new hires in recent years, officers decided it would be a good time to bring it back.

“It’s a new rivalry,” said Lt. Gerard Slattery, who helped organize the game. “We’ve had a lot of new officers hired the last few years, and they’re itching to take on the old men.”

“They’re in for a rude awakening,” he joked.

The players on the rookie team were even more confident in their abilities. From the sidelines and the dugout, the younger officers were quick to point out their superiors’ ages, cracking jokes about AARP cards and Velcro sneakers.

Despite the smack talk, respect from both sides was evident.

“They’re really good young officers,” Slattery said.

The team of rookie officers ended up winning handily. The final score wasn’t really the point of the game, though.

“A lot of these guys, we don’t always see them on a daily basis,” said Patrolman Ken Garling, who started at Youngstown Police Department four years ago. “And it’s usually in a professional environment. Just to do this when we’re not at work is forming a bond.”

Heading the younger officers’ team was Patrolman Joe Burnich, who started working on the squad 31/2 years ago and said the main motivation for the game was rivalry.

“A lot of the older guys like to talk about how good they were, and they talk about how there was an annual younger vs. older game, so we wanted to get it set up again,” he said.

Rivalry might have been part of it, but the main point, Slattery said, was to build camaraderie.

“It’s been tough the last few years with public perception and everything else,” he said, referring to nationally publicized incidents that have put police in a negative spotlight.

Now that the custom has been revived, YPD officers plan to once again make it an annual game.

“It’s just a way for us to get a little closer,” Slattery said.