Police academy graduation welcomes graduates into police force

MARQUETTE — Some new law enforcement officially entered the workforce today at the NMU Regional Police Academy graduation ceremony.

Twenty-one students and their families met at the Jacobetti Complex for the police academy graduation ceremony.
In the past sixteen weeks, these students have worked vigorously. All the work paid off with a one hundred percent pass rate, an accomplishment that is not too common. For the academy’s faculty along with the students themselves, it is a feeling of relief to know they are ready to fulfill their career in law enforcement.

“I believe our instructors are some of the best in the state , they do an excellent job one on one with the recruits. Getting them the information they know and I basically say that I am just proud and relieved” said Director of Northern Michigan Regional Police Academy, Ken love.

The ceremony has several guest speakers from law enforcement officials around the area. Marquette County Sheriff Michael Lovelace encouraged the future police officers and said the key to being successful in this field is to “live by your code of ethics.” Through the process of learning these ethics, the graduates did find themselves to slightly change.

“Its been a very interesting 16 weeks, we have all changed a little bit in the sense of developing a professional that we can carry on as police officers, I think is huge,” said Police Academy graduate, Jack Griggs.

Although the weeks of training did seem to go by quickly, graduates are ecstatic to be done.”There’s no better feeling in the world than right now, knowing it has been 16 weeks. It did fly by but I don’t think I will ever come in here as a student again” Griggs continued.

Five of the graduates already do have jobs lined up in the police force and the Director is confident that the others will soon follow.