HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Four members of the Hutchinson Police Department and three with the Reno County Sheriff's Department were among 70 new law enforcement officers who graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC) Sept. 18 at a ceremony held in KLETC’s Integrity Auditorium.
Officers Madaline Carr, Lance Fairchild, Tyler Proctor and Braden Stewart with HPD and Francisco Gutierrez, Mathew Lutz and Ethan Price with the sheriff’s department were among those participating in the ceremony. The large class size was designed to prevent disruption to Kansas law enforcement and to ensure there was no additional delay in training created by the suspension of on-campus classes in the spring of 2020 because of COVID-19.
The 268th also raised more than $1,700 for the Children's Advocacy Centers of Kansas (CACKS). This money will be going to a project that will benefit children across the state called My Backpack. Class president Christopher Engle-Tjaden presented CACKS Executive Director Juliane Walker a check on behalf of the class.
The graduates began their training in June 2020 and represented 42 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies from across Kansas.