New Recruits to Protect the Water Supply

44 new recruits were recently welcomed to the Staff Sgt. Robert H. Dietz DEP Police Academy in the City of Kingston. The new recruits comprise a diverse class that includes three military veterans, as well as men and women who were born in eight different countries and speak 10 different languages. The recruits will participate in seven months of rigorous training before joining the DEP Police as sworn officers to protect the largest municipal water supply in the United States.

The new class of recruits is the 13th to be trained through an academy run by DEP, and the third to be trained at the department’s new academy facility in Kingston. The class was selected from among 1,568 candidates who were screened through physical training exams, medical tests, and background checks.

Our police recruits go through a rigorous program that comprises 1,275 hours of training over the span of seven months. Upon graduation, new recruits and their colleagues in the DEP Police Division are charged with protecting 19 reservoirs, three controlled lakes, more than 180,000 acres of watershed land, roughly 300 miles of aqueducts, 29 water supply dams, 57 bridges, seven wastewater treatment plants, and more than 280 shafts, chambers, laboratories, and other facilities that help the water system function. These facilities and lands stretch across parts of eight counties and roughly 2,000 square miles of watershed.

Recruits trained at the DEP Police Academy will eventually be stationed at one of seven DEP Police precincts in Ashokan, Beerston, Downsville, Eastview, Gilboa, Grahamsville, or Yonkers.

Our new recruits will soon play an important role in securing the water supply, and we want to congratulate them and their families as they begin months of important training.