(Michigan City) -  The Michigan City Police Department has added two new officers to the ranks.

Christopher Alexander and Gregory Williams III were sworn in on Monday.

24-year-old Alexander hails from Three Oaks, Michigan, where he has served as a basketball coach in the River Valley school system. Alexander’s great-grandfather was a Michigan City Police Officer back in the 40s.

23-year-old Williams grew up in the Portage area but now lives in Michigan City.  He was previously a La Porte County jailer for the Sheriff’s Department.

The Probationary Officers will go through more than six weeks of in-house training before going off to the police academy.  The new hires still leave the department four officers shy of a full department. Five officers are scheduled to retire in the next six months; several others are currently on sick leave or military deployment.