New Wichita police recruit class is most ethnically, racially diverse in history
The Wichita Police Department’s latest recruit class is not only the largest since at least 2006. It’s also the most diverse in the agency’s history.
Sgt. Jeremy Vogel said Monday the city’s 54 newest aspiring officers speak a total of seven languages among them and come from a variety of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
The group consists of 37 men and 17 women, beating WPD’s previous record of 12 female recruits set in January.
Thirty-four are white, 11 are Hispanic, six are Black and three are Asian. Men and women are represented in each category.
Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said he’s been working to diversify Wichita officers since he took over as department head in 2016. A field that’s historically been overwhelmingly male and white, he wants officers on the streets to more closely mirror Wichita’s cultural, ethnic and racial makeup.
Recruit officers Dcorian Williams, Tiffany Vo-Zimmerman and Andrew Silva — who all have parents born outside of contiguous U.S. borders — are looking forward to that, too.
“I have lots of nieces and nephews, and I think it’s important for them to see someone like them in this position,” said Vo-Zimmerman, a former emergency dispatcher whose parents immigrated from Vietnam.
“It’s hugely important to be out there, to be a spokesperson and to be that role model,” said Silva, who is of Mexican descent.
“It may not solve every issue, but it will solve a lot of our problems,” said Williams, whose mother is Puerto Rican and father is Black.
The group’s academy classes began Monday at the Law Enforcement Training Center on Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus. Training lasts six months, after which recruits graduate and become full-fledged police officers.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 10:15 PM.
