The Prince William County Police Department has a new batch of officers fresh from the county’s Criminal Justice Academy, and they come to the job with backgrounds ranging from military roles to schoolteachers to court clerks.
Of the 23 men and women who graduated Monday, eight come from a military background. Officer Christian Davis is a 35-year-old father of one who was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, where he was a paratrooper and an M-16 marksman. Gabriel Diaz, 30, will be assigned to patrol work in eastern Prince William County. He also was an Army staff sergeant with specialties as a demolitionist and pharmacist. Jason Mendez is 27 years old and served as a sergeant in the Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He also practices Brazilian jiujitsu.
Officer Christine Fewell comes to the department with a master’s degree in education and 12 years of experience teaching sixth-grade health and physical education.
Before deciding to become a police officer, 22-year-old Officer Angelica Windland was a clerk in Fairfax County’s General District Court. Officer Brian Kimble, 40, served 17 years in the county’s Department of Corrections as a probation and parole officer.
Then there’s 24-year-old Katherine Drummon, who worked for the CIA before joining the police department.
Nine of the graduates have foreign-language skills, with five speaking fluent Spanish. Lt. Angela Tyson is fluent in French and has been assigned to the Fire Marshal’s Office. Chad Mason, 22, studied Russian and criminal justice in college. Davis, the M-16 marksman, is fluent in German; and 39-year-old Officer John Cho speaks Korean.
