'This was my dream:' MPD graduates 38 cadets to city's police force

Corey Harris

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Police Department is sending off 38 newly-initiated officers to the city's police force.

"We had some long weeks, some short weeks, but very good training," said Milwaukee Police Academy graduate Corey Harris. "I grew up here, I was born here, I know the community and I'm just ready to get out and serve."

Two others in attendance are joining agencies outside the city of Milwaukee; a total of 40 graduates were on hand for the ceremony Thursday, Dec. 12.

Tom Danek

"Everyone of them is a quality officer and I think we'll do great things here," said graduate Tom Danek.

As the graduates took their seats, top brass took to the stand offering one last word of advice.

"If you go from crisis to crisis to crisis, you're not going to see the beauty in any community that you enforce. All you're going to do is see the negative," said Milwaukee Chief of Police Alfonso Morales. "The beauty is in every community in our city."

Chief Alfonso Morales

It's no secret that police work is hard and the expectations are high. But Chief Morales says, if the new graduates are able to slow down, they'll find the moments that make the job rewarding -- a challenge of growing their perspective this class is ready to take on.

"This is it, this is the moment I've been waiting for," Harris said. "I've always wanted to be a police officer since I was a kid. This was my dream, and it's all in reality now."

Now that cadets have become officers, they will have a few days of relaxation before getting assigned to their districts for field training. That portion of their education will be their lives for the next 14 weeks.