After Flisha Kelsey was sworn in as East Liverpool’s newest police officer, her children Ryder, 4 and Madison, 7, make it official by placing her badge on her. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

EAST LIVERPOOL — Flisha Kelsey made history Tuesday morning when she was sworn in by Mayor Bobby Smith as the East Liverpool Police Department’s first female officer.

Many of the department’s officers and Kelsey’s family, her parents Marty and Kim Conger and her two children Madison, 7, and Ryder, 4, sat in council chambers to witness Smith administer her oath of office. Her son Ryder recorded the swearing in on a cell phone and joined his sister Madison, who excitedly told her mom she was proud of her and placed the badge on her mom’s uniform.

According to Chief John Lane, Kelsey was hired to replace an officer who resigned, and her hiring maintains the department staffing at 17 and allows them to continue with an officer on the Columbiana County Drug Task Force and keep officers in the schools.

“We definitely need the numbers and she was the best candidate. She will do fine,” he said.

Lane said he is hoping to get a couple more officers on the department. Safety Service Director Bill Jones said the department needs applicants.

Lane said he views having a female officer in the department as a big step.

“It’s not an easy department to work as a female and there will be some serious challenges. It’s physical,” Lane said. “There are times you are going to have to stand your ground physically. They physically try to get away from you, physically assault you and she will have to be ready for all that.”

Lane said he believes Kelsey will be a real asset to the department. He said believes that women have a better way of calming situations down, especially with a male, and that some guys will respect that and some won’t.

When it comes to searches, such as when officers have a female that has possibly hidden something on her, having a female to do the searches will be invaluable, Lane said. The department has always had to call a female in from another department and hope one was working at the time.

“Now that we have our own, that will be a big help,” Lane said.

Lane said to his knowledge the department has never had a female who is qualified apply before which contributes to why the department is just now getting a female officer. He noted that there have been other females talk about wanting to join the department as an officer but they either never followed through or didn’t make it through the academy. He also said Kelsey has all the qualifications and thinks it’s possible that she could inspire other females to want to apply.

“Working here is definitely harder than working for other departments, just because of the things that we deal with. We see a lot more than some of the other departments,” Lane said.

Smith said Kelsy is a milestone for the city and having her as the first female officer will help with what the city has to deal with, and he is glad to see the city be able to hire more police officers. Smith said Kelsey is ambitious and with her being right out of the academy she will be good for the department.

This is Kelsey’s first position as an officer as she is fresh out of the Youngstown State University Police Academy where she often times trained 12 hours a day, seven days a week to achieve over 1,000 hours of training. She will spend at least the next six months with a partner participating in the department’s field training program before going solo as a fully trained officer.

When searching for departments she would be interested in working for she looked at a radius around where she lives and checked out all the departments. She noted she found a lot of good ones and East Liverpool was actually the last one on her list just because she doesn’t typically come to the southern portion of the county in her travels.

She said one day she decided to call Officer Justin Watkins, and she spoke with him over the phone about her goals and why she wanted to be in law enforcement. When Watkins encouraged her to come do a ride along, she did, that very day and multiple times after.

“I noticed in the town that a female presence will really greatly impact the community and going into law enforcement, especially as a female officer, I want to make a difference,” Kelsey said. “A lot of the other places I checked out I just didn’t feel that I would make the special difference that I wanted to and help. From that moment I decided I was going to go with East Liverpool.”

Kelsey also noted that when she was doing her education, she did check out some other departments, but when it came time to do her exams, the East Liverpool officers really helped her study over Facetime and were virtually there to support her and be loyal to her and she decided those are the kind of people she wanted to work with.

When asked what it meant to her to be the city’s first female officer, she said it was a huge thing for her especially since she’s not one to want to be in the spotlight.

“I kind of struggled with that a little bit, but I definitely respect it, and I honor it and I’m going to do it,” Kelsey said. “I’ll do further training to make sure that I am going to be successful and safe and come home to my little kids. I think this is just a huge title to hold and sometimes I wish I wasn’t the first, but here we are.”

Kelsey said she hopes to be a role model for other females considering a career in law enforcement.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com