SAN ANTONIO – The 23 new San Antonio police officers who have been called the cream of the crop graduated Friday from the academy and will start patrolling the streets Saturday.
Chief William McManus said each new graduating class fills a dropping number of vacancies in the force.
It was the first time Amanda Valadez had ever donned a San Antonio police uniform.
"It felt right. It felt like this is what I'm supposed to be doing, and this is what I've worked so hard to do," Valadez said.
She'd always wanted to be an officer and has now vowed to protect the Alamo City.
"I want to give back to the community and this is how I’m going to do it. We're going to make a difference. I know it," Valadez said.
Seven months ago, the 2016 Delta cadet class started at 40 people, but it was whittled down to just 23 graduates.
"The 23 that we have here are the cream of the crop that entered the class originally," McManus said.
McManus said the number of dropouts shows how tough training is.
"If you don't have the right mindset, if you come into it for the wrong reasons, you're not going to last," McManus said.
Each class that graduates fills a number of street vacancies within the San Antonio Police Department.
"I believe (at) last count, a couple days ago was about 117 (vacancies), so this will knock it down to just under 100. Then we'll have another class in July," McManus said.
McManus expects and hopes the number of vacancies will soon become zero.
"We had a recruiting event last weekend at the academy. We had 173 people show up, and we got quite a few applicants out of it. So we hope to have another big class in July," he said.
All of them won't make it. The final spots are only for the best cadets.
Anyone interested in becoming a San Antonio police officer, click here to find more information.
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