20 new officers join Orange and Sullivan county police departments

Twenty new police officers joined departments across Orange and Sullivan counties after graduating from the Orange County Police Academy in Goshen, with 17 men and three women stepping into jobs that will quickly affect patrol coverage, response capacity and day-to-day police work in villages, towns, cities and sheriff’s offices.

The ceremony was held at the Orange County Emergency Services Center in Goshen, where Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler, Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty and Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta addressed the new officers. Each stressed the weight of the badge and the demands that come with it. Hoovler framed policing as a career where family support matters, Conaty pointed to the difficult moment and the need for justice, and Arteta said the badge carries responsibility and requires officers to remember self-care as part of doing the job well.

The graduation underscored how central the Orange County Police Academy has become to the region’s staffing pipeline. The Police Chiefs’ Association of Orange County says the academy was formed in 2006, has trained more than 600 recruit police officers in the Basic Course for Police since then, and now trains upwards of 900 officers each year in New York State-certified full-time courses. The academy only accepts recruits who have already been hired and sworn by a police agency before the Basic Course begins, making it a direct feeder for departments that need ready-to-deploy officers.

That matters in Orange County, which spans 839 square miles, includes three cities, 20 towns and 19 villages, and is home to more than 379,000 residents. In a county that large, each graduating class can make a visible difference in how fast agencies can fill shifts and staff the calls, investigations and neighborhood patrols residents see every day.

The new class also fits a steady recent pattern. Previous academy groups have included 20 graduates in December 2023, 14 in February 2024 and 22 recruits in November 2025, showing a continuing flow of officers into local agencies. For Orange and Sullivan counties, this latest class means more boots on the ground now, not months from now, in the places where public safety is most immediate.