WACO, Texas — Logan Weilburg, Jonathon Davis, and John Cruce began Monday morning as police recruits and ended the day as sworn officers after graduating from the Waco Police Department's 79th recruit class.
"One thing I am excited to do is just get out there and get with community involvement," Davis told 25 news. "Learning my community, learning the people in it, and just protecting and serving them."
The new officers said for years they wanted to get into the field and trained for the last six months at the academy to make it happen.
"I'm just happy that that part is over and now I get the new beginning and I'm going to learn a whole bunch of stuff," Weilburg said. "I got a lot ahead of me."
Police officer positions have been hard to fill these last few years as community support dropped dramatically after the death of George Floyd. For the recruits from the 79th academy class, the men said their passion for the field never faded.
"Absolutely not," Davis said. "It's something I always wanted to do and it didn't change anything."
"It made me think a little harder before jumping in," Cruce said. "It made me think carefully about where I wanted to be and which department I wanted to work with."
Officer Cruce said he chose Waco Police Department based on its commitment to protect and serve.
"I like the city and from what I can tell the reputation of the department seemed really good," he said. "I like the focus on community engagement and the size where it's not too big that you feel like a number on a page somewhere."
