A laid-off Hamilton Township officer from Williamstown and a former part-time officer in North Wildwood who was a Sewell resident also were among Thursday's 30-member class - 17 of them from out of state.
"Going to New Jersey was our first overture to the Northeast," Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said, noting that sweeping police layoffs in New Jersey were seen by the department's recruiters as an opportunity to hire trained personnel.
At least one other out-of-state police department - in Fort Worth, Texas - was recruiting in central New Jersey on Thursday.
Ramos and the other South Jersey officers said they had embraced the relatively relaxed pace of Nashville.
Hellos from strangers caught one of the officers off-guard early, but the recruits said they had been touched by the warm gestures.
For Ramos, it is a far cry from the day he sat stunned in his car at Camden police headquarters.
"It didn't really hit me until the day I had to turn my gun and badge in. It meant a lot, that badge. I worked so hard for it. They took a part of me away, a part of me that I worked for," he said.
He didn't think he would find a job in law enforcement again, at least not in New Jersey.
Jim Mulholland, a former North Wildwood officer, got engaged to his girlfriend of seven years, who moved with him in June and "took this leap," he said.
The New Jersey recruits said they saw potential for professional growth in a larger department that covers 533 square miles and a population of about 600,000 in Davidson County, which includes Nashville, even though its rates of major crime are not as daunting as in a much smaller place like Camden, population 77,000.
There have been 49 homicides in Nashville-Davidson so far this year, and 46 in Camden.
The officers are grateful for the chance still to be cops, which seemed unlikely in New Jersey, where layoffs have hit hard in the major cities.
