GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Five new officers were sworn into the Green Bay Police Department on Monday morning.
These officers all have joined the department within the last few months, however due to Covid-19, they had to wait a little longer to hold a ceremony. The intimate ceremony was filled with family, friends, and coworkers.
In a time when officers are in deep scrutiny and police departments across the nation are struggling to hire, Officer Bryce Bolus said his decision to join the Green Bay Police Department was because he was raised in a family of law enforcement.
“There is just a need for really quality people who work in this position and I feel like I meet those standards. I’ve had a lot of experience with working with people, being able to just talk to people,” Bolus said.
He said he applied to police departments across Wisconsin and this was the one department that he really liked and felt the most comfortable with.
Officer Baldemar Ramirez, who joined the department in January, said he wanted to become a police officer after taking criminal justice courses in college.
He credits his loved ones to helping him achieve his goals and dreams.
“My family I think, my support system. They worked hard to get me to where I am. That motivated me and that pushed me to work just as hard as them”
Ramirez was the only Latino out of the five who were sworn in. He shared how proud he is to be a representation to the Latino community of Green Bay.
“It feels good just having that like background and even that bilingual skill set that I can show up in the streets while I’m on patrol. I can come across someone that only speaks Spanish and I can help them by speaking Spanish to them,” Ramirez said.
Having grown up in Green Bay, he says he excited to continue to protect and serve his own community.
Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith led the ceremonies Monday morning, just a few weeks ahead of his retirement. He shared how confident it is to be leaving the police department in good hands.
“I couldn’t be prouder or happier and these individuals are really well-deserving. They’ve made the high marks. They have made the high mark, they have met all the steps that they need to make in terms of education,” said Chief Smith. “But most importantly they demonstrate that they are of good character. That’s why we pick here, we hire people who have good character”
“Many times people will apply for the job and we start looking into their background and they’ve got really questionable things, bad judgement, dishonesty, we just can’t have people like that. In this era where people are scrutinizing police officers so much, we may need to make sure that people here in Green Bay meet the high standards that we set and every one of these individuals did,” Smith said.
Meet the five officers:
Tessa Dimity was born in Green Bay and raised in Pulaski.
She was officially sworn in as an officer on November 2, 2020.
Wyatt Veseth was born and raised in Fox Point.
He was also sworn in as an officer on November 2, 2020.
Baldemar Ramirez was born and raised in Green Bay.
He was sworn in as an officer on January 11, 2021.
Ronnie Nickel was born in Woodruff and raised in Saxon, Wisconsin.
He was also sworn in on January 11, 2021.
Bryce Bolus was born and raised in Kenosha.
He was sworn in as an officer on March 29, 2021.
