The newest West Hartford Police Department recruits are all women – the first time in town history that has happened.

By Ronni Newton

West Hartford has hired four new police officers, who head to the Connecticut Police Academy for orientation on Friday, but for the first time in history all of the new hires are women.

Chief Tracey Gove said it’s rare for the department to be able to hire four people at once, let alone four women. “Only 5 percent of the candidates meet our standards and make it through the background investigation,” he said.

“Not only is it a boon to have four new hires, but adding diversity is great,” Gove said. Increasing diversity has been a department initiative.

Female police officers can bring a different perspective to the job, and Gove said sometimes children are less intimidated and more apt to talk to a woman. It’s also helpful when dealing with female prisoners, he said.

The four new hires are Sarah Marcham, Alexa Beauregard, Blaire Telford, and Natalie Feliciano.

Marcham, Beauregard, and Feliciano are all 22 years old, and Telford is 27.

“I’ve wanted to be a police officer since I was 15,” said Feliciano. She was part of the Police Explorers while a student at Conard High School, and also attended the West Hartford Police Department’s “Behind the Badge” College Academy Program.

The West Hartford native graduated from Conard in 2011, received an associate’s degree from Manchester Community College, and earned her B.A. in criminology from Central Connecticut State University in 2016. She has been working part-time as a loss prevention store detective at ShopRite in West Hartford since 2011.

Marcham, who lives in Wethersfield, said that she decided to pursue becoming a police officer about two years ago. “But I grew up around police because my dad is one in Bristol,” she said. Her aunt is retired from the Avon Police Department and is now an officer in Granby. “I’ve always admired what they do,” she said.

Marcham is a 2012 graduate of Rockville High School and earned a B.S. in criminology from Central Connecticut State University.

“I was a psychology major and had interned with East Hartford [police] during college and did ride-alongs,” said Beauregard. “Having the ability to defend, protect, and counsel the community really hit it for me,” she said, and she focused her career goals on becoming a police officer.

Beauregard, a Meriden resident who is also an accomplished country music singer, is a 2012 graduate of Mercy High School in Middletown and earned her B.A. degree from Stetson University in Deland, FL, in 2016. In addition to interning with East Hartford police, she has also interned with the Deland, FL police and the Connecticut Regional Digital Investigation Squad.r.

At 27, Telford is the only one of the four who is making a career switch to law enforcement. “It was my dream when I was little, but I never thought it was possible,” she said.

Born in Appleton, WI, Telford grew up in Barrington, RI, and is a graduate of St. Andrews School. In 2011 she graduated from Gordon College with a B.A. in Christian Ministries. For the past 13 years she has been working in the field of youth ministry with middle and high school students.

“I love meeting people ‘in their mess,'” Telford said. She had friends who worked in law enforcement and has long admired what the career encompasses.

 

Marcham said it “feels empowering” to be part of a group of four women. She is looking forward to a long career, and her goal is to move up the ranks through detective, sergeant, lieutenant, she said.

Beauregard said that as a young officer, she knows she will be “a small fish in a big pond for the first couple of years.”

“One of the things I’m learning is about the amount of humility it takes to go into law enforcement. Your job is to serve and protect people,” Telford said. “Going into the academy you know you are going to have some failures, and if you have a drop of arrogance you’re not going to make it,” she said.

Feliciano is proud to be part of history in this class of new hires. With her experience in the Explorer program, she hope to become a community relations officer.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled. I just want to make sure we have qualified people on the street,” said Lt. Michael Perruccio, who will be tasked with training the new hires over the first 10-11 months of their careers.

“These four have stellar backgrounds and are topnotch,” Gove said.

All four women were officially hired effective June 26, 2016, and after Friday’s orientation will report to the Connecticut Police Academy on Monday for six months of training. They will live onsite at the academy in Meriden during the week, and return home on weekends throughout the duration of training.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford!