SWANSEA 鈥� The Swansea Police Department recently swore in its first Black officers 鈥� Darrell Dunn and Jonathan Williams 鈥� which officials said is an important reflection of the increased diversity in the village.
Nonwhite residents now account for 35% of the village of 14,400 people, according to the 2020 census. Between 2010 and 2020, the Black population grew by 6 percentage points, to 23% of the population.
鈥淲e are now working very hard to diversify,鈥� said Swansea Mayor Mike Leopold. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something, quite frankly, we should have been doing years ago, but we鈥檙e doing it now.鈥�
Police Chief Steve Johnson has similar feelings.
鈥淚t always turned out that we had some great qualified candidates on our list, and then some other community would hire them first before we brought them on,鈥� he said.
Johnson said this time Swansea was the one luring qualified officers from other cities. Williams and Dunn worked for other departments, including those in St. Louis, Chesterfield and Ferguson.
鈥淲e love that we鈥檙e bringing experienced people here that can see the way the Swansea community is,鈥� Johnson said, citing the new officers鈥� past experiences as social workers, substitute teachers, paramedics and firefighters.
For Williams, the move from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to Swansea was natural. He said he has close ties to the Swansea community, having worked at a local middle school and nursing home before moving into law enforcement.
鈥淢ost of us start this job because we like to help people and meet the citizens,鈥� he said. The citizens are the most important part, and this is a department that is committed to working with them.鈥�
The Swansea hirings come at a time when other local departments are struggling to recruit new officers.
鈥淭hese days it鈥檚 not easy to hire new policemen because not a lot of people want to be them,鈥� Leopold said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been struggling to find good-quality candidates.鈥�
partially to make it easier for the police department to promote internally. The St. Clair County sheriff
To Johnson, Swansea鈥檚 ability to recruit new officers reflects the quality of the force鈥檚 existing officers and how the department is visible beyond arrests, such as with community events and academies. He added he鈥檚 excited to see how the expertise his new officers bring folds into the larger department.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much more about law enforcement than simply arresting bad guys, especially in 2021,鈥� he said. 鈥淭heir mindset is about building relationships.鈥�
Eric Schmid covers the Metro East for 漏 2024 外网天堂 as part of the journalism grant program: , an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.
