By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor

At the Township Committee meeting on July 22, Director of Public Safety John Kneib swore in Linnette Ramos as one of Pennsauken Township’s newest police officers.

Ramos is a longtime resident of the Township, who graduated from Pennsauken High School and worked as a lifeguard at Pennsauken’s municipal pool. She also has a lifelong desire to protect and serve.

“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do since I was a child,” says Ramos, who currently serves on the Township’s Zoning Board and previously worked as a Sherriff’s officer for the county and an EMT for Pennsauken. “Working EMS for Pennsauken and seeing what they do put everything in perspective. This is what I want to do.”

According to Officer Jerry Henkel, getting hired as a Pennsauken police officer is an arduous process.

“It’s a very involved process to get hired. It’s not just taking the test,” explains Henkel. “They first have to take the civil service test; then candidates have to go through a vetting process to get hired here. It’s very competitive.

“It’s all designed to narrow down the field of people who are trying to get hired so we get the best candidates.”

Ramos went through agency training at the Pennsauken Police Department before entering the Camden County College Police Academy on Aug. 3 for 22 weeks of basic police officer training. After graduation from the Academy, the new officer goes into the Pennsauken Police Department’s Field Training Officer program; for another 16 weeks, she’ll “ride” with a veteran officer trained to instruct new recruits. When all of their training is complete, Pennsauken will have 74 officers on the street to maintain the safety of Township residents and businesses.

Congratulations to Linnette Ramos: a longtime resident making a true commitment to serve their community.