- The Wasco City Council meeting space was packed to the brim on Tuesday as four new members of the Wasco Police Department were honored. Wasco Police Chief Charlie Fivecoat honored Lieutenant Alecio Mora, Sergeant Lionel Lopez, Sergeant Maira Puente, and Senior Dispatcher Erika Morris.
- The video shows all four new members of the Wasco Police Department being honored by friends, family and community members.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Wasco Police department continued to bolster its roster on Tuesday night, as four new members of the Wasco Police Department at the Wasco City Council meeting on Tuesday night.
The members of Wasco PD recognized on Tuesday night were Lieutenant Alecio Mora, Sergeant Lionel Lopez, Sergeant Maira Puente, and Senior Dispacther Erika Morris.
For Wasco PD Chief Charlie Fivecoat, the ceremony Tuesday night was a step in the right direction, following a long year of work to try and start a department from the ground up.
“It's been a long year. We've been working on this since last December. We're bringing staff on now, and as far as I'm concerned, I've got probably one of the best supervisory teams I could possibly have,” said Fivecoat
The gallery for Tuesday night’s meeting was nearly standing room only as friends, families and community members watched on to see the four Wasco pd members be recognized.
“I'm so excited to see the support of the people come out and and they’re as excited as we are and we're going to work together and we're committed to their safety,” said Mora.
The four new members will fill in the supervisory roles surrounding Chief Fivecoat and as the department gets built from the ground up they hope to not only build a culture for the present for future members of the department.
“To get a good foundation going for the police department, a good strategy in leadership and continuing forward for the next generations of law enforcement officers. I've got family here and they're going to continue to be here. So hopefully leading the department or starting the department in the right direction,” said Lopez.
For years, the area has been patrolled by the Kern County Sheriff's Office, but as they look to the future, the new Wasco PD members hope to be friendly, familiar face in the area.
"I feel like we can fulfill that. The sheriff's department's been doing a good job, but I feel like having its own department, you'll be able to focus more on the problems here since we'll always be here. It's not rotating officers," said Puente
"We are really looking forward to building a positive environment. This chief is really great about making sure that everybody is acknowledged and supported. And so we are going to foster an environment that really hones in on having that support," said Morris.
Currently, the City of Wasco is still being patrolled by the Kern County Sheriff's Office per a 2021 agreement. But according to Chief Fivecoat, there have been several officers in the process of being vetted for Wasco Police Department positions and he hopes to get things up and running completely in the near future.
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