New class of troopers takes to the road

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Wednesday, 46 more state police troopers hit Indiana's highways.

The troopers' training included 840 hours of classroom work, 50 hours of vehicle training, 40 hours of survival Spanish, 30 hours of psychology, and three months of field training. But there's just one moment when the group became official troopers, the minute they got into their patrol cars.

"It's a great day, it's a great day. It's been a long journey. I got the car, now I am ready to go out and serve the motoring public," said new trooper Christopher Townsend.

Testing the sirens and lights, the 46 new troopers took to the open road.

Forty-five of the troopers are graduates of the 69th recruit class. But Korey Mauck graduated with the 68th class -- then the National Guard came calling.

"It seemed like a long time coming. I was very excited to come up here. At first, I didn't even know if I was going to come up with this class cause it wasn't mine," said Mauk. "I graduated from the academy on the 22nd then we left Indianapolis on January 2nd."

Mauck left for training in Georgia then it was on to Iraq. Now that he's back home in Indiana, Mauck will now serve his state.

"When I left for the academy, my son was four months old and he just turned two. So, it was nice to be home but I missed out quite a bit. But yeah, it was nice to be home," said Mauck.

Stationed at District 35, he hopes not to miss any more important moments in his son's life down in Evansville.

There were nearly 6,500 applications for the 69th recruit class -- 45 graduated.

There won't be a recruit class this year because the state police is just shy of being at full force.