Photo (left to right): Covington Police Chief Brian Valenti, Corey Zelensky, Matthew Clements, and Covington Mayer Joe Meyer.

New Covington hires a Marine and Criminal Justice graduate

COVINGTON, Ky. – The Covington Police Department’s newest recruits are a Marine studying psychology and Spanish at Northern Kentucky University, and a graduate of the Criminal Justice program at the University of Cincinnati.

Matthew Clements and Corey Zelensky were sworn in by Mayor Joe Meyer this morning and received their badges in a ceremony at City Hall.

Meyer prefaced the oath-of-office ceremony by speaking to the significance of the department’s relationship with the community.

“To most people, the Police Department is the City,” said Meyer. “More people interact with law enforcement than they do with the Mayor or Commissioners, so the relationship between our Police Department and the people who live in our community is really important to us.”

Zelensky graduated from Conner High School in 2019 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was in the military police. He deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2019. Now in his second year at NKU, he’s earning a degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish.

“As a military police officer, I got the chance to learn a lot about the process and I wanted to do this as soon as I could,” said Zelensky. “Now I’m where I want to be.”

Clements completed his graduate degree in Criminal Justice from UC and has worked as a security officer with the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

“I’m ready to start a career, have a great experience and help out the community,” said Clements.

Both Zelensky and Clements will begin their 20-week basic training at the police academy in Richmond, Ky. At the completion of the academy, they will return to Covington, where they will begin the department’s internal field training program.

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