New officers, promotions reflect policing a culturally diverse Glendale
The Glendale Police Department welcomed four new officers and recognized the promotion of two sergeants and two lieutenants during a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday.
The new officers and supervisors bring diverse language skills — with several of them fluent in Spanish, Korean or Russian — which Glendale Police Chief Robert Castro said will help the agency interact with Glendale’s culturally diverse population.
“You have all demonstrated you have the qualities, skills, abilities that I’m looking for in today’s Glendale Police Department,” Castro said to the newly promoted sergeants and lieutenants. “I can tell you it won’t be easy. It will be difficult. I will look to you for your leadership, your experience, your honesty and your support.”
Among those promoted was Matthew Prokosch, a new sergeant who speaks Korean and Spanish in addition to English. Prokosch, who immigrated to La Crescenta from South Korea at 12 years old, became Glendale’s first Korean police officer in 1997.
The negative attention is not something that discourages me, it encourages me to do better, to do the right thing.
— Glendale Police Officer Aaron Kim
“Police work is all about relating to people — everybody is in a different situation. We come in in the midst of it and try to help them,” said Prokosch, who will work as a patrol sergeant.
Also promoted to sergeant was Christian Hauptmann, who joined the Glendale force in 2005 before serving as a field training officer and a vice/narcotics detective.
Tim Oswandel, a sergeant since 2010 who has worked in the patrol, juvenile and internal affairs bureaus, and Andrew Jenks, a member of the SWAT team with experience in the robbery/homicide and assaults units, were both promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
Three new police officers, along with one reserve officer, were also sworn in during the ceremony.
That included Officers Christopher Zendejas, Cory Galbraith and Aaron Kim, along with Reserve Officer Karl Park.
“Law enforcement plays a big role in the community,” said Kim, who also speaks Korean. “The negative attention is not something that discourages me, it encourages me to do better, to do the right thing.”
