James Klein, left, Colton Krumrie, middle, and Lance Lockhart, recite the oath of office Thursday evening in Chattanooga, Tenn. Klein, Krumrie, and Lockhart were all students of the class of 2010-1, which is the first class to graduate from the academy in the last few years.The streets of Chattanooga are a little safer this morning.
The first city police academy in two years graduated 22 cadets Thursday night, helping to build up an understaffed city police force.
The Chattanooga Police Department staff rose to 428 officers from 406, a step in the right direction, but still not quite up to the 475 full staff, Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd said.
“We average probably 15 to 20 people retiring every year. When you go two years without an academy, you fall so far behind it’s hard to overcome that,” Dodd said.
Thanks to federal funding, he said he is expecting to add another 23 officers by the end of the year when a second police academy class is set to graduate.