 |
Friday, July 30, 2010 | Serving Del Rio and Val Verde County: Since 1929
|
|
|
Marketplace
Sections
AP News
Service Center
|
|
| |
|
City gains 4 new police officers
Published September 27, 2008
Four of the six cadets who graduated from the Del Rio Police Department Academy Friday immediately became the DRPD’s newest officers.
Graduating as members of Del Rio Police Academy Class of 2008 were Mario Cervantes III, Cruz Cortez, Porfirio Hernandez, Jose Rangel, Kerr Wardlaw and Fernando Zavala.
During the graduation ceremony held at the Paul Poag Theatre for the Performing Arts, Cervantes, Hernandez, Rangel and Zavala also were sworn in as Del Rio Police Department officers.
Cortez will begin his law enforcement career as a member of the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office and Wardlaw will go to work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as a game warden and will attend the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Academy in Bastrop in February 2009.
Assistant City Manager Monique Vernon, who addressed the graduates as the ceremony’s keynote speaker, defined the roles of police officers.
“In our daily lives, we have very high expectations. We expect safe travel on the roads, demand that our children are kept out of harm’s way, insist on immediate response when we dial 9-1-1 and never give a second thought to walking alone after dark,” Vernon told assembled family members and friends of the graduating cadets.
“We take our safety and comfort for granted as we tend to feel they are entitlements. We lay our heads down at night without a care in the world and awake to start with the same high expectations over again. So who do we think is taking responsibility for ensuring our high expectations are being met each day?
“. . .It is the men and women who are trained and dedicated to serving our community. They are the true heroes and heroines,” Vernon said.
She called law enforcement officers “the backbone of public safety and protection across America” and urged the audience members to thank the officers who keep America’s cities safe.
“I am proud to live and work in a city that recognizes its law enforcement personnel for the heroes that they truly are,” Vernon said.
She noted that in the days to come, the new officers will “work tirelessly doing some of the toughest jobs under some of the worst conditions,” but reminded them that their efforts would not be overlooked.
“You are respected and appreciated by your families and friends. You are admired by neighbors and young children. You are role models in the community,” she said.
Vernon urged the graduating cadets, “Always uphold the honor that your badge represents and forever maintain the integrity of the ‘thin blue line’ that you walk.”
She closed her address with words from the “Police Officers Prayer,” and congratulated the graduates.
The graduating cadets ended their 22 weeks of training by receiving their certificates of graduation.
Four of the graduating cadets then were sworn in as DRPD officers by DRPD Chief Waylon Bullard, and the new officers then received their badges.
Joining Bullard and Vernon in welcoming the new officers and in congratulating the academy graduates were District II City Councilwoman Lisa Cadena Craig and City Manager Frances Rodriguez.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
