Three new Federal Way Police officers were sworn in at the Nov. 21 City Council meeting.

Mayor Jim Ferrell administered the oath of office to officers Luis Deffit, Truitt Hartle and Joseph Rodriquez.

The new hires brings the number of officers in the department to 126. Chief Andy Hwang said he hopes to fill five additional positions by the end of the year to increase the number of officers up to the allocated 131.

Deffit was a lateral hire from the Indiana State Patrol, having served a trooper there since 2012. He attended high school in Bremerton, and later moved to Indiana where he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration. Deffit is a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard and is fluent in Spanish.

Hartle is an entry-level police officer, graduating from the police academy in October. Prior to embarking on his law enforcement career, he served in the U.S. Army as a specialist with the 2nd Ranger Battalion. During his military service, he was deployed to South Korea and earned three sets of airborne wings, parachuting in America, Australia and Korea. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Arizona.

Rodriquez was born in California, but spent the majority of his life in the Puget Sound area. A recent graduate of the police academy, Rodriguez is in the early stages of the Police Field Training Program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Puget Sound.