On July 19, cadets who recently completed the Asheville Police Department’s police academy earned their badges and the city’s department grew by 20. Gathered at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and accompanied by family, friends, City of Asheville employees and City Council members, the cadets were sworn in by Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy.
“You have finished a milestone in your careers. Congratulations. Celebrate that fact. Own it,” the Mayor said.
Bellamy also called upon the new officers to uphold the department’s guiding principles of integrity, fairness, respect and professionalism.
“Remember that one person can make a big impact on a department,” Bellamy said.
Each of the 20 cadets completed a rigorous program that included 35 blocks of instruction and 624 hours of training, physical tests, and a series of exams to stay in the program through graduation.
“You have gone through some really difficult times in order to wear this badge and represent this department,” said APD Chief William Anderson.
Class speaker Jose Maldonado reminisced about the bonds created with his fellow officers while in the academy, and said that those bonds would grow even stronger as they served on the APD force.
“I learned a lot from being with you guys,” Maldonado said. “Go out and do great things.”
Once sworn in, the new officers each had their badges pinned on by family members and supporters. The officers will be assigned to a Field Training Officer in the department before being allowed to patrol on their own.
The 2012 Asheville PD Cadets are: Wilson Bunn, Orlando Burge, Adam Cabe, David Cohen, Chris Dennis, Ian Grant, Denise Jackson, Krystale Jones, Josh Kingry, Dmitri Kirnos, Traci Kruthaupt, Oksana Kulakova, Derek Laffin, Ian Luther, Jose Maldonado, Christopher Morrow, Mario Rodriguez, Brandon Shope, Brett Thomas and Ty Wilson.
The Asheville Police Department Police Academy is a collaboration between APD and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.