At 54, Rookie Graduates From Sheriff’s Academy
As Class 292 formed up for the last time at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Academy on Friday, the ranks included one rookie deputy with a few more lines in his face than his firm-jawed classmates.
And if it weren’t concealed by his shaved head, a receding hairline would have contrasted with the full crops of hair on the twentysomethings around him. But it is just that touch of mature mileage that gave Michael Walter of Valencia his proud distinction at the graduation--at 54, he is the oldest graduate in the academy’s history.
His stint in the sheriff’s academy completes an evolution from social worker to federal parole officer to cop.
Walter said he hungered for the day-to-day challenges he heard about from the cops he mixed with as a parole officer.
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