The Temple University Police Department officially welcomed five new officers to its force at its 2025 Cadet Graduation Ceremony held on Temple’s Ambler Campus Friday afternoon.
It was the first graduation in four decades from the Temple Police Academy, and first since the department shifted to using the TU Police Academy in Ambler to train new officers rather than the Philadelphia Police Department Academy in February.
“I am exceptionally proud,” said Vice President for Public Safety Jennifer Griffin. “We are adding five new police officers to an exceptional team within the public safety department. So we’re thrilled to add these new people.”
The five new officers are Phillip Easton from Philadelphia, Cheyne Geverd from Montgomery County, Sow Mamadou from Philadelphia, William Patterson from New Jersey and Jacob Sastre from Philadelphia. Geverd operated a farm before training in the academy and Sastre worked in the trucking industry.
“We’re a diverse group as far as career background, so we bring a lot of different knowledge to classroom discussions,” Patterson said. “Each week is different, we learn different tactics. We’re learning traffic code one week, this week we’re doing patrol activities, and the previous week we did crash investigations. Each week is something new, pretty interesting.”
Following the cadets’ graduation, the officers still need to pass the state exam before officially becoming TUPD officers. The test will happen sometime this week for all five cadets, a DPS spokesperson said.
Afterwards, they’re expected to fulfill additional field training, which will prepare them to join the workforce.
“This has been the basic building blocks,” Geverd said. “I’m ready to start the real learning process which is going to start when we go to Temple with field training and really get into the nuts and bolts of policing. That is where the true learning aspect comes into play.”
Temple police officers previously trained in a nine-month course at the Philadelphia Police Department Academy. The TU Police Academy reduces the course by three months, with the same state-specific required training but without PPD-specific training like paperwork standards, The Temple News previously reported.
The selection process for the TU Police Academy includes a series of background checks, psychological evaluations, fitness tests and written exams to determine eligibility.
Lieutenant Jeff Nowak, director of Temple University municipal police academy, commended this year’s graduates for their hard work in completing the program.
“[They’re] an exemplary group of people, widespread and very diverse, all from different backgrounds, but yet they had the same teamwork, the same work ethic, the same stick-to-it-tiveness that got through the program,” Nowak said. “It’s not an easy program to get through, but they all persevered.”
The academy program is split between academics and hands-on training, including physical fitness, defensive tactics and driving, among other training.
The TU Police Academy saw a reduced number of cadet applications in the past few years, The Temple News reported. The push for an integrated police academy comes after union leadership and TUDPS have focused on recruitment and retention amid a nationwide decline in police officers.
The Temple University Police Department’s total number of officers has been highly speculated in recent months. The Temple University Police Association, the department’s union, claims there are currently just 41 patrol officers. That number has not been officially confirmed.
While DPS has not released an official officer count, an ongoing staffing study could shed light on the number of officers Temple needs, what the department should focus on and other forms of organizational assessment. The department expects to release the results sometime in the spring semester.
“I’m excited to work at Temple dealing with the community at large and college students,” Geverd said. “It’s a very influential part of their life, and I hope to have the opportunity to impact people in the Philadelphia area in terms of policing in a positive manner.”
Evelyn Blower contributed reporting.
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