The Springfield Police Academy held its graduation ceremony of new recruits Thursday at Springfield College with newly minted police superintendent Lawrence Akers in attendance. There will be 25 new police officers joining the Springfield Police Department and most of the new officers will be women.
Graduate Nashai Quintana said it was empowering to train with so many women during her time in the academy.
"It was... also very hard,” Quintana said. “It was definitely a hard Academy just pushing through it. The fact that we are the first academy with so many females is definitely historical, and I'm just glad to be a part of it."
This was also Lawrence Akers’ first time swearing in a class of new recruits. Akers said these new recruits will be taking their training from the Academy and applying their knowledge to new policies — like use-of-force— which the federal consent decree has brought to the department.
"Everything that they've learned in the Academy is going to go right in line with what the consent decree and the Department of Justice has requested that we do, and we're going to try to follow that to the letter of the law, and we're going to make great police officers out of them," Akers said.
In his speech to the new officers, Akers said the job will not be easy, since public trust in police officers has gone down in recent years.
“This is a tough time for police officers that’s been spoken about, and there's a lot going on in this country and a lot going on in this city. We're going through some difficult times right now, but we can do something about it,” Akers said in his speech. “Why? Because it's all about you. But it's not about you. It's about the community members that have to call 911 for your help. It's about the people.”
He said the new recruits seem eager to do good work and that he is looking forward to leading them to the best of his ability.
