YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jamael Tito Brown laughed and said the city probably needed to use the Covelli Centre arena instead of its community room Wednesday when 11 new police officers were sworn in.

The line of new officers stretched from one side of the room to the other. And the family, friends and other well-wishers filled the entire room.

It was a welcome sight for police Chief Carl Davis, whose department has been chronically understaffed for several years. Davis said he thinks this is the largest number of officers hired at one time.

He said the department deployed several new methods for finding recruits, including community service announcements as well something more old-fashioned: “Word of mouth. Some of the officers of the police department would go to restaurants and strike up conversations with employees there and ask them if they would be interested in being in law enforcement,” the chief said.

The new 11 are also “probably one of the most diverse groups we have ever hired. I have the opinion that the police department should reflect the community that it serves, and this was a clear example of that today. I think the public embraces that, and these officers will be a good fit.”

He added, “This is not only a good day for the police department but for the citizens of Youngstown.”

Lt. Brian Butler, the police department’s staff inspector, head of the internal affairs division and the person who manages the process for hiring new officers, said the 11 brings the department up to about 100 patrol officers and about 140 total officers, which includes supervisors and other support staff.

When the department added four new officers last July, Capt. Brad Blackburn, head of the patrol division, said the department was at 85 patrol officers, even after hiring four. And that was down nine from July 2022.

City council members complained in January about the large amounts of overtime paid to police officers in 2023, but Davis commended one detective who earned $139,000 in overtime because he volunteered to work those hours, preventing some others from being forced to work overtime.

Malik Mostella, community liaison for the police department, said the Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association was able to help increase the number of new hires because MCTA can provide the funding to get recruits through the police academy.

His job as community liaison also “allows me to move around throughout the Mahoning Valley, not just the city, so anywhere I go, I always bring up that we’re hiring, we’re doing everything we can. And I explain the different programs and just explain how the police department works.”

When he was asked about the resistance to police officers that surrounded the Black Lives Matter campaign following the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police officers, Mostella said he thinks the public’s opinion of police is “swinging back. It’s always been a noble profession. We’ve taken a black eye in the past couple of years because of things that happened that were not a part of this city. We haven’t had those George Floyd issues,” Mostella said.

He said he thinks that is because “We train for that, and we don’t hire people like that,” he said. “We do a very good job of vetting our people.”

Mostella added that two of the 11 new officers are relatives of his. When asked what role he played in his relatives becoming officers, he referred a reporter to new officer Richard Warren, his nephew.

Warren said a big reason for him wanting to be a police officer was that while he was growing up, former Youngstown police officer Mike Walker came to his grandmother’s house every morning to have breakfast “and talk to us before we went to school.”

Warren said he also worked with children for about 10 years. “One of the things I would get from the kids is we’re talking about a community of kids (in Youngstown) that really don’t like police officers.

“But the kids (he worked with) would always say to me that they loved me and say ‘Mr. Warren, you should be a cop. I see you being a cop,’ always from a positive foundation,” he said. “So that and just the thought of being able to serve my community is a great opportunity. I love serving people. I love talking to people, meeting new people. So that was the biggest factor,” Warren said.

Another new officer, Joshua Hinkle, said he is from Lakewood, and worked five years as a police officer in Tennessee. But his wife is from the area and he wanted to come here to be closer to family.

He said he is eager to “get started, get on the road.” He still needs to take his Ohio law enforcement test, so he will be “behind the scenes” until then.

Another new officer, Craig Whitfield, said he has wanted to be a police officer “for a long time now. It is something I have wanted to do since I was a kid.” His wife is also a Youngstown police officer.

As Davis and Mayor Brown prepared to swear in the new officers, Davis told the large audience that the 11 new hires underwent drug testing, psychological and physical exams, extensive background checks and interviews.

He said he expects the new hires to play a role in “decreasing overtime — mandatory and otherwise — in the police department,” “enhance operational efficiency” and improve the well-being of the department as well as the equality of law enforcement services.

All 11 will be assigned to the patrol division and will work alongside experienced officers to get experience before they assume regular duties, Davis said.

The new officers are Ian Rudolph, Nicole Rodriguez, Richard Warren, Kennedy Kelly, James Fisher, Craig Whitfield, Joshua Hinkle, Sean McKim, Adrian Cortez-Meza, Eleazer Gonzalez and Dontre Mastronarde.