Matthew Drudge

ELKHART COUNTY — Four new troopers reported to the Indiana State Police Post on the Toll Road Monday, including Warsaw Community High School graduate, Matthew Drudge. The Toll Road Post is located in Bristol and covers the entire stretch of Interstate 80/90 from Illinois to Ohio. The troopers are welcomed from the class of 46 troopers who graduated from the 75th Indiana State Police Academy Nov. 19.

Matthew Drudge, 23, graduated from WCHS and currently lives in South Bend. He went on to attend Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne studying public affairs and criminal justice earning a bachelor’s degree. Drudge most recently worked for Best Buy as an associate from 2011-2015 while attending IUPUI. During his senior year of college Drudge also completed the Indiana State Police internship program.

In June of this year the class began 21 weeks of intense training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield. During the training period the recruits received over 500 hours of classroom instruction as well as nearly 300 hours of hands-on practical and scenario based training exercises.

Other to report to post:

Brett Adair, 34, resides in South Bend. He graduated from Clay High School and then attended Indiana University in Bloomington graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Criminal Justice. Prior to working for the Indiana State Police, Adair worked for the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center in South Bend. He worked at the JJC since 2005 and most recently was a detention assistant supervisor.

Daniel Burkey, 21, is a resident of Hamilton, Indiana, and graduated from Teegarden Academy. Burkey also attended the International Alert Academy where he became nationally certified in search and rescue, high angle rescue, advanced open water scuba diving, and structural and wildland firefighting. Prior to attending the Indiana State Police Academy, Burkey worked for Tri-State Dairy acting as a liaison for the company.

Ala’a Hamed, 21, lives in Dyer, Indiana and graduated from Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill. Hamed attended both Moraine Valley Community College and the University of Illinois at Chicago graduating with a double major in criminal justice and sociology. Prior to working for the state police, Hamed worked in physical therapy as a personal worker and at Jiffy Lube as a vehicle technician.

The new troopers will continue their training at the post and in the field for the next three months as part of the state police field training program. The field training program pairs new troopers with Field Training Officers. Upon successful completion of their FTO period, they will be issued their cars and be assigned solo patrol responsibilities.