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Recruit From Ridgefield Joins Stamford Police Department

STAMFORD, Conn., -- Stamford welcomed a group of six new police recruits - including a Division 1 track and field runner - as they were sworn in Wednesday in a ceremony at the Government Center.

The six new Stamford Police recruits from left: Steve Estabrook, Dili Santos, Kelli Reynolds, Kevin Lochard, Conor Canning and Steven Orgera.

The six new Stamford Police recruits from left: Steve Estabrook, Dili Santos, Kelli Reynolds, Kevin Lochard, Conor Canning and Steven Orgera.

Photo Credit: Frank MacEachern
New Stamford Police recruit Kelli Reynolds, with her mother Rhudean Bull after the swearing in for her and five other police recruits Wednesday.

New Stamford Police recruit Kelli Reynolds, with her mother Rhudean Bull after the swearing in for her and five other police recruits Wednesday.

Photo Credit: Frank MacEachern
Kevin Lochard, third from right, was sworn in as a Stamford Police recruit Wednesday. From left are his mother Marie, aunts Nancie and Venite, father Serge, brother Michael and sister Vanessa. In front is is grandmother Marie Lochard.

Kevin Lochard, third from right, was sworn in as a Stamford Police recruit Wednesday. From left are his mother Marie, aunts Nancie and Venite, father Serge, brother Michael and sister Vanessa. In front is is grandmother Marie Lochard.

Photo Credit: Frank MacEachern

"This is the cream of the crop," Police Chief Jon Fontneau said after the ceremony. 

Among the crop is Stamford native Kevin Lochard, 21, who ran distances from 800 meters to a mile at the University of Rhode Island, an accomplishment that one senior officer joked will come in handy while on patrol work.

"I always wanted to be a police officer. I wanted to give something back to the community," said Lochard, a Stamford High graduate who is 11 credits shy of earning his degree from URI. He is majoring in sociology.

His parents, Serge and Marie, are Haitian natives who raised their family in the Glenbrook neighborhood. Both were beaming at the ceremony.

Serge Lochard said he will be excited to see his son in uniform, patrolling Stamford's streets. "I will be very happy," he said.

When Lochard told his mother that he wanted to be a police officer, it caught her unaware.

"He told me last year he wanted to be a police officer, and I was so surprised," she said.

Kevin Lochard was joined by brother Michael, sister Vanessa, grandmother Marie Lochard, and aunts Nancie and Venite Lochard at the ceremony.

Also sworn in Wednesday were Steven Orgera, 23, of Stamford; Steve Estabrook, 36, of Ridgefield; Conor Canning, 22, of Hamden; Dili Santos, 29, of the Bronx, N.Y., and Kelli Reynolds, 25, of Stamford.

Reynolds, a Post University graduate, has worked with the police department for the past year in the central hiring area. That department handles crossing guards and private jobs that require police officers such as traffic control at road construction sites.

She said she's eager to become a police officer.

"What's there not to like? You get to help the community that you live in. You get to help the people that are a little less fortunate than you are," she said. 

A native of Columbia, S.C., she moved with her mother, Rhudean Bull, to Connecticut about 15 years ago. They lived in Milford before moving to Stamford in 2010 for her mother's job.

"Where my mom went, I went," Reynolds said with a laugh. 

Rhudean Bull said she was a little apprehensive about her daughter's choice. 

"I'm a little bit nervous, I'm proud of her no doubt, but I am a tad bit nervous," she said.

The two moved to Connecticut when Kelli, who was always independent, was in fifth grade.

"She's always had to be self supportive because I am a single mom, it's been Kelli and me since she was 2 years old," Rhudean Bull said. "She has always been independent and able to do a lot for herself more than other kids because of our circumstances, but as a result of that she has gotten to be really, really responsible."

The recruits bring the department's strength up to 285 officers. They now will attend the Connecticut Police Academy for six months followed by a further 12 weeks of training with Stamford Police.

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