ANDERSON, Ind. — Three new police officers were introduced to the city’s Board of Public Safety on Thursday and will be sworn in Nov. 30 as part of a $1.5 million grant to the Anderson Police Department.
One of the three officers, Zane Sparks, is the 23-year-old son of APD Chief Darron Sparks. The other two are Shanda Wilhoite, 24, and Ian Spearman, 29.
The officers’ hirings were made possible by a federal stimulus grant aimed at continuing the department Community Oriented Policing Services, which focuses on certain trouble areas and directs patrols there. The new officers bring the department’s total to 120.
More than 100 people applied for the open positions, APD instructor Mike Anderson said.
“These three applicants were in the top five,” he said. “They are very qualified applicants.”
Safety Board member John Bostic said he paid attention to Sparks’ progress during the hiring process to make sure his hiring was based on his attributes rather than his father’s position as chief.
“I wanted to make sure that you was coming on the best you possibly could because your father was the chief,” Bostic said. “We could be very proud of how you really went at it.”
Safety Board member H.L. Baker said Zane Sparks would have to prove himself on his own merits.
“You get looked at somewhat in a different way (as the chief’s son),” Baker said. “By being a police officer, you make it on your own.”
Zane Sparks said his father’s commitment to public safety was one reason he wanted to become a police officer.
“It always goes back to my father,” he said. “I was born and raised around it. I want to clean the streets. I want to keep it clean.
“I felt this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Zane Sparks graduated from Anderson High School and played baseball for two years at a community college before applying for the police officer position. He said he would like to become a SWAT team member or K-9 officer.
Wilhoite was the department’s No. 1 female applicant, Anderson said.
The Anderson High School graduate lives in Anderson and is finishing a degree in political science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“I have a passion for the youth and can definitely see how there is an opportunity to make an impact, to reach them in a way some leaders in the community can’t reach them,” she said.
Spearman, an Indiana University graduate who lives in Indianapolis, already has gone through the police academy. He plans to move to Anderson soon and hopes eventually to do investigative work.
“My biggest hurt is when an adult hurts a child or an adult hurts an elderly person,” he said.
The stimulus grant provides funding for the three officers for three years and requests that the city take over their salaries in the fourth year. Darron Sparks said he expects to be able to absorb that cost with other officers retiring over the next few years.
“In four years, we’ll have 23 police officers with 28 or more years,” he said.
Bostic praised the Police Department for securing the grant to help with manpower.
“A double thanks for the way you went out and found money to hire them without coming from the general fund,” he said.
Bostic also was pleased with APD’s efforts to recruit minorities for the most recent hiring cycle. Two of the three new hires are black.
Anderson said the department held meetings informing minorities how to apply for the job and what would be required of them. They asked them to pass out applications to their families and friends.
For related articles on city hiring practices, see Sunday’s The Herald Bulletin.
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.
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