PIQUA — Two new Piqua Police officers, Benjamin Marialke and Zachary Smith, were sworn-in on Thursday, Jan. 5, during an oath-of-office ceremony held in the Piqua City Commission’s Chambers on West Water Street.

“Officer Benjamin Marialke graduated from Tiffin University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice,” Piqua Police Chief Rick Byron said after the ceremony. “Officer Marialke graduated from the Sinclair Community College Police Academy in December of 2022. This is his first law enforcement position.”

“Officer Zachary Smith is a Piqua High School graduate, and he has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Edison State Community College,” Byron said.

Smith graduated from the Edison State Criminal Justice Academy in 2012, Byron said. “Officer Smith has previously been an Officer in Covington, Ohio, Jackson Center, Ohio and most recently as a deputy with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.”

The new officers will fill two positions that were vacant due to an officer retiring and another officer leaving to go to another agency.

“The positions were open for less than a year,” Byron said. “We still have two open positions with two additional openings expected in 2023, due to retirements.”

The department is currently seeking applicants for those two positions, through an open hiring process that will close on Jan. 16, 2023.

Anyone interested in applying for the officer positions can do so on the city’s website at www.piquaoh.gov.

“The requirements are listed in the postings on the city’s website,” Byron said. “Applicants do not have to be certified as a Peace Officer to be hired. We will send those hired without a Peace Officer Certificate to the Ohio State Highway Patrol for their academy, or a comparable academy.”