Columbus police adds 31 officers in smaller-than-average academy class

On Jan 27, 2023

Prakash Poudyel is swarmed by his nieces, nephews and other family members following his swearing-in as a new Columbus police officer on Friday at the 138th recruit graduating class at the James G. Jackson Columbus Police Academy. Poudyel is the second Nepali police officer on the Columbus force.

Wide smiles and proud relatives were abundant Friday morning at the James G. Jackson Columbus Police Academy, as 31 new officers graduated training to join the Columbus Division of Police and 18 others will join other central Ohio law enforcement agencies.

None of those smiles was wider than that of 21-year-old Prakash Poudyel, the second Nepali officer to join Columbus police. Poudyel, who graduated from Northland High School and was a police cadet prior to joining the academy, said he has wanted to be an officer since he was a young kid and after moving to Columbus at the age of 10.

“I saw a lot of Columbus police officers,” Poudyel said. “I always wanted to be a police officer.”

Poudyel said he hopes he can make a difference in the Nepali community and the larger Columbus community, including encouraging other young Nepalis to consider law enforcement as a career.

“Since I’m in it now, I can help them through the process,” Poudyel said.

The oldest member of the 138th recruit graduating class, 55-year-old Juan A. Morales, spent 23 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 15 years in the Illinois National Guard before deciding to begin a second career as a Columbus police officer.

“I want to keep living,” Morales said. “I might be a transplant from Chicago, but the red, white and blue blankets one coast to another.”

Morales said even though his two sons are older than many of his classmates, he was happy to be able to learn from everyone in the class and hopes some of his wisdom, partially coming from deployments during the Gulf War and to Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, was passed on to them.

“They looked up to me, not as a parent, but it was silent motivation,” Morales said. “They also motivate me because I’ve been through life, I’ve seen the good and the bad. These guys are going to see some horrible stuff. That courage for me, in not knowing what’s out there and stepping up anyways, they inspire me to keep going.”

Morales said he hopes to work 15 more years as a Columbus police officer, so long as his body holds up.

“I might become a firefighter then,” he joked, referencing two members of the graduating police training class who are Columbus firefighters and arson investigators.

Those jabs at the firefighters, and at Morales’ age, came also from class orator Kalib Amos’ remarks at Friday’s graduation ceremony. Amos will join Westerville’s Division of Police, and while he may have been responsible for 95% of the questions asked during classes, he got serious in his speech.

“We’re all human,” he said. “Regardless of whether you wear a police badge or an orange jumpsuit, we’re all the same. We all need compassion.”

That need for service before protection was also referenced by First Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts, who said that the new Columbus police officers taking their oaths on Friday before embarking on 15 weeks of field training, need to continue standing up for what they believe in and what is right.

“From this day forward until the day you retire, you will be in the public eye, open to second-guessing,” Potts said.

With the graduation coming hours before Memphis police body camera footage in the death of Tyre Nichols was scheduled to be released, the sentiment carried extra weight.

“When you wear this badge, it’s a badge of honor,” Potts said. “If you tarnish it, we will hold you accountable.”

The class graduating Friday began with 66 members, ending with a total of 49 people, 31 of whom will join Columbus police. The other recruits will join other central Ohio law enforcement agencies, including Westerville, Worthington, Ohio State University and the Columbus Division of Fire.

Recruits typically leave the training academy due to a lasting injury that prevents completion of physical testing requirements, they choose to leave or are asked to leave due to performance.

The 31 Columbus recruits in Friday’s graduating class is significantly lower than other recent classes, which have averaged about 45 new officers. The number of officers is not what Columbus police leadership hoped it would be to help solve staffing issues that have left the division down at least more than 150 officers.