Bad drivers and criminals beware. There are 29 new cops in Wichita and Sedgwick County

There are about to be 29 new cops on the streets of Wichita and its surrounding communities.

A combined class at the law enforcement training center saw 20 new Wichita Police Department officers and nine new Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office deputies graduate from the academy, sheriff’s Lt. Tim Myers said in a release.

The new deputies and police officers will spend the next several weeks in field training, where they will be partnered with veteran law enforcement officers, Myers said. The new officers will be assigned to bureaus after they complete field training, Officer Charley Davidson said.

“My experience at the academy was amazing,” new recruit Officer J. K. Anderson said in a police Facebook Live video. “You’re there for 6 months and you’re with 20 other people who have the same goal as you.”

“I’m ready to go out into the field.”

The basic academy training included interpersonal communication, policy and procedure, legal issues, computer training and defensive tactics, Myers said.

“This year was extremely challenging but it was very rewarding,” field training Officer Eric Piotrowski said in the Facebook Live. “We had a wonderful bunch of young men and women that had an opportunity to come out and receive some excellent training. They worked very hard and they got everything out of it that they put into it. We have a great graduating class.”

Piotrowski said the department is looking for more recruits who “have the desire to go out and serve the community.” More information on how to apply to be a Wichita police officer is available on the recruitment tab of the department’s website.

The Kansas Highway Patrol added more troopers to the Wichita area four months ago. Eight of the troopers in one of the largest classes of recruits in the patrol’s history were assigned to the city after they received their patrol cars in March.