ATLANTA - Thirty-five new Georgia State Troopers will be ready to patrol Georgia highways by the time the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday travel period begins. The new troopers graduated the 88th Georgia State Patrol Trooper School Thursday at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.
Fourteen of them will be assigned to posts in northeast Georgia: six to Gainesville, five to Athens, two to Cumming and one to Blue Ridge.
The graduation ceremony marked the completion of 31 weeks of law enforcement training that included three months of on-the-road training under the guidance of veteran field training officers. The new troopers have been assigned to vacancies at the Georgia State Patrol's 48 post locations across the state, according to Colonel Mark McDonough, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
"These troopers have received the best training available," Col. McDonough said. "They have undergone grueling physical, academic and field training to prepare them well for a career in the dangerous profession of law enforcement."
Col. McDonough noted that this is the 88th Georgia State Patrol Trooper School to graduate and the new troopers compose the last graduating class before the Department of Public Safety celebrates its 75th Anniversary next March. The first troopers in Georgia began patrols in September 1937.
The current class has received specialized training on impaired driving enforcement in addition to special training on pursuit driving, firearms and drug interdiction techniques.
The Thanksgiving holiday travel period begins Wednesday, November 23 and ends Sunday night, November 27.
The new troopers and their duty assignments are:
Jeremy Allison - GSP Gainesville
Rodny Barolette - GSP Atlanta
Matthew Baxley - GSP Washington
Michael Best - GSP Dalton
Ty Brooks - GSP Brunswick
Michael Brown - GSP Cartersville
Christopher Cochran - GSP Blue Ridge
John Daniel - GSP Cartersville
Christopher Davison - GSP Newnan
Jonathan Folendore - GSP Gainesville
Joseph Gass - GSP Dalton
Darius Goss - GSP Cumming
Justin Henderson - GSP Cartersville
Rusty Holcombe - GSP Villa Rica
Christopher Hosey - GSP Valdosta
William Ivey - GSP Jekyll Island
Nicklaus Jenkins - GSP Athens
David Lacey, Jr. - GSP Athens
Jason McClung - GSP Newnan
Jonathan Munger - GSP Gainesville
Andrew Phillips - GSP Cumming
Travis Sanders - GSP Gainesville
Robert Scott - GSP Jekyll Island
Dewey Scott, Jr. - GSP Athens
Coy Seymour - GSP Monroe
Gregory Spruiell - GSP Atlanta
Jonathan Stamey - GSP Gainesville
Stephen Strickland - GSP Villa Rica
Jack Stripling - GSP Cuthbert
Jeffrey Swanner - GSP Villa Rica
Scott Tarpley - GSP Forest Park
William Thomas - GSP Gainesville
Joseph Tucker - GSP Athens
Brandon Watts - GSP Forest Park
Jared Williams - GSP Athens
Friday
August 22nd, 2025
2:50PM
