By Tony McVeigh
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky's "Thin Gray Line" just got a little stronger. Thirty-four new state troopers graduated from the Kentucky State Police Academy in Frankfort, bringing the agency's operational force to 928 troopers. But Commissioner Rodney Brewer says that's still well below KSP's authorized troop strength of one-thousand-70.
"We're at one of the lowest sworn manpower allocation points that we've had in the last 25 years. So, our hopes are - and I discussed this with the governor - is that traditionally, we lose a lot of folks to retirement on August 1st - that this class will take care of that attrition and maybe even beyond to hold us at the level that we're at until we can get a better foothold with the budget."
Governor Steve Beshear was among those praising the new recruits at their graduation ceremony. Class valedictorian is Brad Riley of Lexington and former Lexington Herald-Leader crime reporter Cassandra Mullins is the only female to survive the grueling, 23-week, military-style training course.