Officer Marcus Gilzen became the newest member of the Apopka Police Department this morning at a swearing-in ceremony performed by APD Chief Michael McKinley.
"I'm proud to be a member of the APD," Gilzen said. "I enjoy the people of Apopka, and I'm happy to give back to the community I was raised in."
Gilzen, 23, is a graduate of Wekiva High School, the Seminole State Police Academy, and a former Lake Mary police officer. He lives in Winter Garden.
Gilzen is the first officer to be hired through a $625,000 federal Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) Hiring Program grant. The APD is budgeted for a total of five officers through the grant. McKinley was particularly pleased to begin utilizing it.
"We're excited to hire our first officer from the COPS grant," he said. "We think he will do a great job serving this community."
At the Seminole State College Police Academy, Gilzen completed 770 hours of training in subjects related to law enforcement such as courtroom demeanor and testifying, report writing, collection and preservation of evidence, interviewing and interrogation techniques, radio communications, patrol techniques, traffic direction, traffic crash investigations, police vehicle operation, defensive tactics, arrest techniques, firearms training, chemical agent application, CPR and first aid.
He spent one year with the Lake Mary Police Department before being hired by the APD.
Gilzen has only been on the job with the APD for five days but will go through a three-to-four month training period before riding with different officers over the course of several months before he takes to the streets on his own.
