The Noblesville Police Department (NPD) held a ceremony Monday to officially swear in six new police officers. The ceremony took place in the council chambers of Noblesville City Hall. In attendance for the event were families, friends, members of the community, government officials and officers of the police department. Chief Kevin Jowitt officiated the ceremony.
The newly sworn officers are Jillian Fetters, Lindsay Bevilaqua, Ryan Scott, Samuel Helsloot, Kara Tapp and Jordan Turpin. All six officers were officially hired on Jan. 28.
Bevilaqua
Fetters
Fetters graduated from Huntington North High School in Huntington, Ind., in 2011. After graduating from high school, she attended Huntington University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies in 2015. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, Jillian had been employed as a police officer with the Parkview Police Department in Fort Wayne since 2017. She successfully graduated from the ILEA’s Tier II basic training course in 2017.
Bevilaqua graduated from Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Ind., in 2004. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville and Indiana University-Purdue University – Indianapolis where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 2008. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, she owned and operated a fitness center in Indianapolis.
Helsloot
Scott
Scott graduated from Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Ind., in 2012. After graduating high school, he attended Lewis & Clark Community College in Godfrey, Ill., and MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Homeland Security in 2016. Ryan is currently working towards a Master’s degree at the University of Illinois in Springfield. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, he was working as a loss prevention detective.
Helsloot graduated from Noblesville High School in 2013. After graduating high school, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 2018. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, he had been employed as an assistant wrestling coach with Noblesville High School.
Turpin
Tapp
Tapp graduated from Northrop High School in Fort Wayne in 2015. After graduating high school, she attended Ball State University in Muncie where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 2018. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, she had been employed as an elementary school instructional assistant.
Turpin graduated from Brownstown Central High School in Brownstown, Ind., in 2011. After graduating high school, he attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Watershed Science in 2016. Prior to beginning employment with NPD, he had been employed as a staff scientist.
Shortly after being hired, the officers departed for the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield where they spent 15 weeks receiving training in a variety of areas to include criminal and traffic law, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, human behavior, physical tactics and EMS awareness, to name just a few. The officers successfully graduated from the law enforcement academy on May 17.
Since graduating from the law enforcement academy, the officers have received in-service training and have started the 16-week Field Training and Evaluation Program. During this current phase of training, the officers are assigned to several different Field Training Officers (FTO) who will evaluate the performance of the new officers as they learn to apply their academy training to the day-to-day job functions of a police officer. After successful completion of the Field Training and Evaluation Program, the officers will then be certified to work by themselves in a solo-capacity role and will be assigned to a shift within the Patrol Division.
When all is said and done, the officers will have accumulated more than 39 weeks or 1,560 hours of training prior to being released to work as police officers for the City of Noblesville.