By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
More than 30 cadets graduated from the CEntral Texas College Police Academy following a graduation ceremony held for the Class of 2025-Alpha on June 27.
The ceremony featured recognition of the 31 cadets who had been sponsored by more than a dozen law enforcement agencies in the Central Texas area, along with several cadets who were independent (not connected to an agency). These cadets had completed the 720-hour Basic Peace Officer Course and had taken and passed the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) licensing exam. The ceremony included recognizing cadets who had earned awards such as Top Gear, Top Gun, Honor Graduate and special recognition to the group of cadets who helped save a fellow cadet’s life by performing CPR.
The Top Gear Award went to Michael J. Lewis (with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office). The Top Gun Award went to Jimmy A. Flores (independent). The Honor Graduate award went to Elijah M. Garretson (with the Copperas Cove Police Department). The Class President for Class of 2025-Alpha went to Timothy J. Harrell (with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office). The Best Instructor Award went to John Wilkerson, Reserve Officer with the Bell County Sheriff’s Office.
Following the graduation ceremony, the six cadets joining the Copperas Cove Police Department joined their friends and family members and new police family members in the CTC boardroom next door to the conference room for their swearing in ceremony.
“This is a very special graduation,” said Police Chief Eddie Wilson. “They're all special, but this one is uniquely special, because I will tell you, in the last three years combined, we haven't found this many applicants that made it through our process- total.”
Wilson added that there was one year in either 2022 or 2023 where the department held the hiring process countless times and ended up with just one person the whole year.
“I tell you that because this [graduating the academy] isn't the accomplishment, although it is a great accomplishment. The accomplishment was getting through the process and being selected by the Copperas Cove Police Department, because we don't just take anybody,” Wilson said. “We choose to operate short-handed versus getting folks into our organization that are not a good fit. When we found five, and then eventually six, we're all ecstatic. We have a lot of folks, a lot of them standing back there in the back, that have been putting in a lot of extra hours, a lot of sacrifice, just so we could find the right people to come in and be their peers, and I think we've done that.”
Wilson added that these six cadets had proven it throughout the past five months in the academy, through graduating and through passing the state exam.
He posed a question to the cadets of “What’s next?”
“What they accomplished today, honestly, 30 other people did, and that's not what's going to make them special. What's going to make them special is what they accomplish with what they have now, moving forward, and that's why I asked what's next,” Wilson said.
In addition to lots and lots more training throughout their career, Wilson said these cadets and now new officers will also have to understand that they need to look out for one another.
“All those folks standing in the back that represent the Copperas Cove Police Department, they have all been charged with that one rule, keep each other safe,” Wilson said. “As you know, in our line of work, safety is not a guarantee, but they are all charged, first and foremost, to look out for one another and keep each other safe. That is your charge today, keep each other safe.”
Wilson added that the Copperas Cove Police Department is a Texas Police Chiefs Association Best Practices Accredited Agency.
“All of those that represent our organization that are standing in this room spent the good part of the last seven years getting us to that position of accreditation,” he said.
In the state of Texas, only approximately seven percent of the nearly 3,000 police agencies are accredited.
“That's the testament of the type of organization that we have, so you guys are coming into a really good place,” Wilson said. “You weren't a part of us getting accredited, but you play a big part in us keeping it, and that's every single day. Everyone knows, if you haven’t seen it, it only takes one bad mistake, one bad decision that affects the entire industry. That’s what’s unique about our job…That’s why it’s so important that we identify and find the right person.”
Wilson said that the six officers joining the Copperas Cove Police Department are going to rise, “the cream will come to the top.”
One of those officers, Tyler Murphy, began his journey with the Copperas Cove Police Department in high school, where he was first a member of the Criminal Justice Club before joining the Law Enforcement Explorers Program or LEEP.
“I've always been interested in being a police officer,” Murphy said. “Growing up, I had a lot of role models in law enforcement.”
Murphy became an Explorer in 2019, and after graduating high school in 2021, he joined the police department as a dispatcher in 2022.
He also worked as a jailer before he decided to make the change and look into becoming an officer.
“I've always lived here. I grew up here in Copperas Cove. I was born on Post, grew up here, and like I said, a lot of these people here today have been role models my whole life, so they really pushed me to join here,” Murphy said. “This is a family oriented department, so it's nice having that second or third family to lean back on when times are tough.”
Murphy said going through the Police Academy was tough but also a lot of fun.
“I got to meet a lot of cool people,” he said. “I made friends that I'll have forever in the Academy, so it was nice getting closer with other Cove guys. We're a really great team, and I think we're going to do good.”
The cadets in Class of 2025-Alpha include:
Independent:: Enoch R. Bradford; Jimmy A. Flores; Joseph D. Franklin, Jr.; Ronald A. Leuma Sr.
Austin ISD Police Department: Jeudy Brito; John L. Price Jr.
Copperas Cove Police Department: Micah A. Burden; Elijah M. Garretson; Hasan Ibeljic; Austin D. LeBel; Ronald I. Leuma Jr.; Tyler W. Murphy
Coryell County Sheriff’s Office: Kaylee N. Kuzenka; Braiden L. Marshall
Granite Shoals Police Department: Rochelle L. Curtis
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office: Aaron S. Goodman; Michael J. Lewis
Brown County Sheriff’s Office: Timothy J. Harrell
Brownwood Police Department: Ariel K. Sneed
Lampasas Police Department: Justin L. Loudenslager; Katelyn M. Rodriguez
Williamson County Sheriff’s Office: Taylor L. Crenshaw; Andrew S. Rodriguez; Nathanel J. Rodriguez; John T. Spurgeon
Williamson County ESD District No. 4: Jeffery B. Foster
Harker Heights Police Department: Ethan A. Quigley
Manor ISD Police Department: Dennis B. Rodriguez; Precious L. Primm
Mills County Sheriff’s Office: Michael B. Miller
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