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New Police Officers Take Oath

06/20/2019
New Police Officers Take Oath
Seven new Allentown police officers were sworn-in during a ceremony in City Council Chambers this morning where the department also awarded badges to four recent academy graduates and unveiled new department shirts.

Mayor Ray O’Connell and Police Chief Tony Alsleben presided as officers Todd Sterner, Rody Collado, Bailey Keintz, Kyle Dunn, Austin Ortwein, Manar Makhoul and Abviud Carvajal took the oath of office. Cadet Irenee Ibemsi is also part of the current academy class. He is attending military training and was absent from today’s ceremony.

Recent academy graduates, officers Joseph Pfeifer, Brandon Evans, Dondre Smith and Edward Elam received their department badges along with Abviud Carvajal who earned his certification at Lackawanna County Police Academy.

“We have a stellar police department in the city of Allentown,” said Mayor O’Connell. “Our command staff is top-notch. Chief Alsleben, Assistant Chiefs Vangelo and Struss and our captains are fine leaders and the men and women on patrol and in the specialized divisions are following their example. I welcome the new officers to the department.”

Chief Alsleben said, “I would like to welcome our new officers and congratulate our officers who received their badges today. They are joining an elite police department with a long tradition of excellence. I would like to thank our recruitment team members who work meticulously to bring in the most qualified and diverse candidates, these officers are a prime example of their efforts. I also want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our background investigators for their diligence in vetting our candidates in such an efficient manner which allowed us to get these officers into the next academy class.”

Cadet Ibemsi is a graduate of Sacred Heart High School in Africa and holds an Associate of Applied Science majoring in Social Science from Luzerne County Community College. He is attending King’s College.

Cadet Sterner graduated from Northampton Area High School and is attending Lehigh Carbon Community College. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Cadet Collado is a graduate of New Jersey’s Carteret High School and attended Union County College. He I also a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Cadet Keintz graduated from Hamilton High School North in Hamilton, New Jersey, attended Mercer County Community College and is attending Northampton Community College. He is a member of U.S. Navy Corps Reserve.

Cadet Dunn is a graduate of Washingtonville High School in New York and holds an Associate of Applied Science majoring in Criminal Justice from Orange County Community College (SUNY Orange). He holds U.S Army National Guard Inactive Reserve status until 2020.

Cadet Ortwein graduated from Nazareth Area High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP).

Cadet Makhoul is a Dieruff High School graduate and attended Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Officer Carvajal graduated from Hazelton Area High School and attended Susquehanna University. He is Act 120 Certified through Lackawanna College Police Academy. He is assigned to 3rd Platoon.

Officer Pfeifer earned an Associate Degree in Applied Science, Criminal Justice from Northampton Community College and a diploma on Firefighting/EMS from the Career Institute of Technology.

Officer Evans holds an Associate Degree in Applied Science, Criminal Justice from Lehigh Carbon Community College and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Officer Smith attended LaGuardia Community College and Touro College.

Officer Elam holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from Caldwell University and was trained at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Police Academy.

Officers Pfeifer, Evans, Smith and Elam and Robles received their Act 120 certification from the Allentown Police Academy this month. They are currently in the department’s Field Training Program along with Officer Carvajal.

The additions, including an officer hired at last night's City Council meeting, bring to 216 the number of sworn officers in the department.

Alsleben said, “We are working hard toward our goal of reaching our full complement of officers by the end of 2019.”

Chief Alsleben also announced that the department will soon be wearing new uniform shirts. The new shirts are a midnight navy colored Elbeco TexTrop2 100% polyester.

The supplier of the city’s current custom-tailored shirts, “Red the Uniform Tailor,” has been bought out and the new owners don’t make the city’s current uniform color. 

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