Badge ceremony brings WCPD up to full strength

Following a badge-pinning ceremony for four new officers to start the City Council meeting Monday, Police Chief Don Melton announced that the department is now fully staffed.

Four new officers, who have completed their field training with the department, were sworn in.

Amanda Hosp previously worked for the Missouri Southern State University and Carthage police departments. She was promoted to sergeant and second in command at Southern, where she was also the first female sergeant. Her long-term goals are to specialize within investigations and de-escalation tactics/strategies.

Matthew Burkhart is a 2016 graduate of Webb City High School and a four-year veteran of the Air Force. Almost all of his time in service was with security forces. He previously worked for the Galena, Kan., police department.

Gerardo Lizarraga, from New York, was a motor transport operator for the Marines, traveling up and down the West Coast on installation missions. And he was deployed to Australia. After being discharged, he initially moved his family to New York but decided to move in June of 2023 from the “craziness that was New York.” They settled in Carl Junction, where his fiancé Kyndra is from. He has worked part-time for WCPD while attending the law enforcement academy at MSSU.

Gavyn Burns, is originally from Brandenburg, Ky. In his five years with the Army at Ft. Riley, Kan., he was a military police officer, detective and swat team member. He is finishing his bachelor’s degree at MSSU.