Police recruits are sworn in Tuesday by the Lawrence Police Department at the Investigations and Training Center. Back row, from left: John Pien, Ryan Douglas, Jonathan Gardner, David Nigro, Nicholas Simon, Narissa Dunn, Meagan Shipley. Front row, from left: Shawn Daubert, Skyler Richardson, Lindsay Bishop, Cody Williamson, Kristen Kennedy, Myra Gillum.

The Lawrence Police Department added 12 new police recruits Tuesday morning. They will begin a six-month training academy before patrolling the streets.

A 13th addition to the force is an officer who is returning to the department after leaving to work in private security in 2009.

Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib has said one of his goals is to maintain a regular schedule of police academies, and City Manager David Corliss has authorized hiring more officers than the department has vacancies for, to keep pace with future attrition through retirement, military leave and other departures. The department’s academy graduated a class of 13 new officers in December.

The new recruits sworn in today: Lindsay Bishop, of Wichita; Ryan Douglas, of Moorhead, Minn.; Narissa Dunn, of Marshfield, Mo.; Jonathan Gardner, of Atchison; Myra Gillum, of Rose Hill; Kristen Kennedy, of Lenexa; David Nigro, of Lawrence; John Pien, of Woodbury, Minn.; Skyler Richardson, of Salina; Meagan Shipley, of Norton, Ohio; Nicholas Simon, of New Prague, Minn.; Cody Williamson, of Lawrence. Shawn Daubert, of Scott City, had been an officer with the Lawrence Police Department from 2003 to 2009 before leaving to work in private security. He joined the recruiting class today but, as an experienced officer, will not go through the full academy.

The department operates its own training academy, while most officers in the state go to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson, a division of Kansas University’s Continuing Education program.