READING, Pa. – 35 cadets walked across the stage at the Reading Police Academy’s second graduation of 2025. Eight of those cadets will be joining the city’s police force.
“These eight that we’re hiring, it doesn’t put us back to full strength,” said Lt. Mel Fegely with Reading Police Department. “The next class we’re hiring, we have 14 that we’re putting through, and that will put us close to full strength”
Among the graduating cadets is Sgt. Todd Tyler of the York City School Police Department. He’s a K9 officer there, a path he says he was compelled to choose.
“We had a student that was killed outside of William Penn in Penn Park a couple years ago, and it was due to gun violence,” said Tyler. “We’re able to get a dog that can smell 10,000 times stronger than we, so if he can find that stray gun laying around that’s recently fired, then that’s a life saved.”
Tyler also works for a mobile intensive care unit in York County. It responds to a lot of calls involving law enforcement.
In September, when five officers were ambushed in North Codorus Township, three of them fatally, Tyler wasn’t among the first responders. But, he says he knew some of the men who were shot.
“The officer that was actually the sheriff’s deputy, he actually trained my dog,” said Tyler. “That incident… I mean, that struck home for everyone, [be]cause you never know if you’re going to be on that call.”
As his time at the academy comes to a close, Tyler says he’s grateful for all that he’s learned and those who he’s met and made connections with.
“I will say it changed my life. It definitely opened my eyes to more of a training aspect of how municipal vs. school police departments are,” added Tyler.