The Meridian Police Department swore in 15 new officers on Wednesday, increasing both the department’s size and diversity. 

The class of officers, from Meridian, Clarke County, Newton and Kemper counties, doubled the class sizes for the last five years, which averaged six new officers, according to Captain John Griffith. 

Griffith swore in the officers at the Meridian City Court, accompanied by trainers and city officials such as Mayor Percy Bland.

The new officers spent their first day getting their uniforms and completing paperwork with human resources. They will begin department training at the Meridian Public Safety Training Facility, located 1180 Sandflat Road, this week. In May, they will begin at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Jackson. 

Officer Patrick Kirby, a former Marine Corps drill instructor, will be responsible for their training in Meridian. 

“To get through me, you’re going to have to find something deep inside of you that you never knew you had,” Kirby told the officers. “Get through me and you’ll get through the Academy.”

Griffith estimated that four of the new officers would drop out in the course of their training – either at Meridian or at the Academy. 

But Kirby said all 26 of the officers Meridian trainers have sent to the Academy came back, “And not a single one of you is going to mess up that record.”

The rigorous training made officers prepared for the split-second decisions they would make in their new careers, Bland said. 

“If you make a mistake on the street it’s going to cost everyone,” Bland said. 

During their training, the officers will appear at parade details and accompany Field Training Officers, learning more about the job and the paperwork that comes with it. Griffith said he hoped to have some of the officers on the streets as early as late July. 

Griffith credited a pay increase, approved by City Council last year, for attracting so many officers.

“It gives people an incentive to do this,” Griffith said. “But it’s still a very long road ahead.”

Bland said he hoped that with one more class, sworn in later this year, the city would have a full police department for the first time in 20 years, allowing Chief Benny Dubose and Bland to follow through on new plans for Meridian. 

“We’ll have more officers on the ground and be able to do more community-based policing,” Bland said. “They can get out of their cars and have relationships with people.”

Of the 15 new officers, three are women and five are black. Griffith said this increased diversity aids the department. Almost 62 percent of the Meridian population were described as black or African-American in the last U.S. Census in 2010. Almost 54 percent were female.

“A police department should typically reflect the community it serves,” Griffith said. “There are cases where someone may not talk to me as a white male… Someone may be more comfortable talking to a female officer than me.”

Christin Peters, one of two black women sworn in, attended the University of Southern Mississippi, studying forensic sciences and criminal justice.

“I came home when I heard there were openings,” Peters said. “I didn’t even know about the pay raise.”

Peters, also in the military, is no stranger to work in a male-dominated field. 

“It’s really challenging,” Peters, the shortest new officer, said. “But they don’t scare me.

“I might have to train a little harder but I can do what they do.”

Meridian natives Peters and Royric Benamon, friends since sixth grade, both became officers on Wednesday. 

“My dad is a state trooper and he’s my role model,” Benamon said. “It’s always what I wanted to do.”

Benamon said taking the new role in his life may lose him friends, but ultimately he believed that he was doing the right thing.

“It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be hard,” Benamon said. “But I want to be the voice for peace and justice.”

New officers to the MPD include: Daniel L. Starks, Benjamin A. Moore, Christin M. Peters, Max J. White, Zachary B. Horne, Royric D. Benamon, Destiny B. Gordon, Timothy G. Dearman, Randell J. Cherry, Terry S. Boler, Zachary D. Joiner, Dominick A. Goucher, Christopher R. Fairchild, Charla L. Furline and Justin A. Cullors.