On Nov. 19, Fresno City College’s Police Academy held its graduation ceremony at Crosscity Church on Nees Avenue to celebrate the cadets completion of the six month police training program.

All 38 cadets are now ready to become police officers unless their hired agency requires them to complete further training. 

In total, cadets had to go through 1,040 hours worth of training, ranging from topics such as first aid, fire arms, vehicle training, ethics and more. 

Police Academy Director, Gary Fief, said all segments of the curriculum were rigorous and intense, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All of our training is designed to ensure our communities have the best trained personnel to make our communities a safe place to live,” he said.

The ceremony began with the presentation of the graduating class #165, that made their way towards the stage in a single file line and militaristic manner.

What followed was an invocation by Chaplain Kevin Llanos of the Clovis Police Department. Afterwards, Fief took to the podium to deliver his welcoming speech.

The speech was immediately met with the presentation of certification of the cadets whose names were called in recognition of their accomplishments. 

Capt. Joe Smith of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office presented the Top Physical Training Awards to cadets J. Converse, M. Escobedo Cruz, and C. Koch. 

Awards for Law Enforcement Skills, which includes report writing and firearms training, were presented by coordinator Tim Hahn, and given to cadets J. Converse, C. Koch, and K. Serros. 

Top Academic Student Awards for scoring high on the comprehensive exam were presented by Recruit Training Officer, Jon Pino, and given to T. Garabedian, J. Converse, and J. Pedraza. 

Lastly, the Best All Around Student award was given to J. Arevalo, who possessed inspirational leadership qualities, displayed a good attitude, dependability and willingness to help others, according to Fief.

Cadets were then awarded badges and their family members went on stage to pin them to their uniform. 

At the ceremony, cadets were awarded over $70,000 in scholarships. 

Scholarships awarded include the Chief Jerry Noblett Memorial, Officer Phia Vang Memorial, Ruby and Mac McGinty Memorial, Hickman-McGinty Criminology Scholarship, Sergeant Paul Brown Memorial and the Valley Crime Stoppers Law Enforcement Scholarships.

The last individual to be honored and recognized was Chief Master Sgt. Lynn E. Williams, criminal justice adjunct instructor and recruit training officer for the police academy at FCC. 

Williams was able to accept the Citizen Soldier Award he was given at FCC’s Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 5.