48 Officers Graduate in Ceremony at Police Academy
Interim Police Chief Bayan Lewis welcomed 48 new officers to the Los Angeles Police Department family in a Police Academy graduation ceremony Thursday.
More than 1,000 people gathered on the sweltering Los Angeles Police Academy field as Lewis, presiding over his first academy graduation, commended the 34 men and 14 women graduates of Class 1296 for their hard work.
Lewis also congratulated the graduates for achieving higher grade-point averages than recent academy classes, LAPD spokeswoman Helen Lloyd said.
During the ceremony, the graduating class presented a donation of $1,000 to Sandra Navidad, widow of officer Mario Navidad, who was killed in a shootout Dec. 22, 1996, which also left a robbery suspect dead. Navidad attended the ceremony with her young son and daughter.
Class 1296 began at the academy in December 1996 with 52 recruits, Lloyd said, completing 1,064 hours of training in 28 weeks. She said all 48 graduates will begin their assignments in various divisions of the LAPD on Sunday.
Raymond Fisher, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, also attended the graduation, as did a representative from Mayor Richard Riordan’s office.
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