SEQUIM — Five new reserve police officers received their badges Saturday morning at graduation ceremonies for the Cooperative Olympic Peninsula Law Enforcement Academy at the Sequim Transit Center.
“Now you are held to a higher standard,” Sequim Police Chief Robert Spinks told the graduates.
The police badge isn’t just a symbol, Spinks told the graduates.
It means they do the right thing, even when there’s no witnesses around, he said.
Reserve police officers are volunteers who have the same assignments and responsibilities as full-time sworn officers, serving as extra manpower and filling in during vacations.
The graduates:
* Class president Rick Larsen, now of the Sequim Police Department (Badge No. 71), serves in the Army National Guard.
* Class vice president Luke Bogues, now of the Port Townsend Police Department (Badge No. 832), works as a JeffCom 9-1-1 dispatcher. He is a former Peninsula Daily News reporter and technical services assistant.
* Greg Dennis, now of the Dupont Police Department (Badge No. 36), is a flight safety officer for Alaska Airlines.
* Keith DeMoss, now of the Lower Elwha Tribal Police Department (Badge No. 20), works at Costco Wholesale.
* Mary Rupprecht, who graduated without a sponsoring police department, works for Clallam County Corrections. She has also worked as a videographer for Peninsula News Network.
