[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] right [Music] what [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e good evening ladies and gentlemen I'd like to welcome you to the valua Sheriff's Office graduating class 04 I am director I am director Carla Quan and at this time I'd like to present to you Sheriff Michael J Chitwood and his Command Staff [Music] for [Music] mar [Music] mar [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for good evening and welcome to the center of Delona I am Eric Egan the Vala Sheriff's Office training Academy Commander we are here this evening celebrating the graduation of bcso training academy class 04 I'm proud to represent the great staff of the training academy and humbled by the honor of MC in this event I want to thank everyone for being here this evening we have academy uh recruit family members friends colleagues and Community supporters to recognize this graduation this ceremony is a Monumental accomplishment to these recruits lives your support and commitment to their success is what helped them get to the Finish Line although this is just the first chapter in their career as a deputy sheriff there's been a considerable amount of hard work study time and dedication this these past 31 weeks with more than a thousand hours of instruction I'm proud of each one of you and thankful for your success moving forward with your career with the vcia sheriff's office now let's get started please rise I guess oh everybody's all right my bad uh we will now have the presentation of Colors by the bla Sheriff's Office Honor Guard All Uniform personel oh the national anthem will now be sung by our very own Mrs Alicia inin oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hail at the Twilight last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fire or the ramp parts we watched were so gently streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave or the land of the free and the home of the brave order all right we will now have chapl Melinda Lewis who will provide an invocation let's pray God we thank you for America we thank you for law enforcement we thank you for Freedom we thank you that one of your names is Justice and that these men and women have come and trained dedicated to Bringing Law and Order through jus justice so God we pray a blessing on each Cadet tonight and on their families we pray for Supernatural wisdom for discernment that they would feel your constant loving presence that they would feel the protection of their good father so we thank you for each and every person who's contributed to the success of the night and we bless them and their families in Jesus name amen please be seated now I'd like to introduce Sheriff Michael Chitwood go too good evening oh come on we got to do better than that man these these young people really work their butts off to get here tonight good evening there we go that's how we do it I want to thank you all for taking the time to come out uh you know I spend a lot of time we spend a lot of time out at the Training Division and we're we're blessed that because of the coid uh increase that happened or pandemic and because of uh the other incidents that had occurred around the country we were unable to hire under the old way of doing things so Governor Dan santis and our Senator Tom Wright helped us to get our own Police Academy which meant we went to go out and scour the country and our County for the best and the brightest to come to work for us to be trained by the best and the brightest that we have in this organization and later on next month we're going to get a real feather in our cap as an organization and this class played a large part in that we are about to become nationally accredited our Police Academy is going to become nationally accredited what that means thank you what that means is we meet or exceed National Training standards which makes what these folks went through that much more important think of that meets or exceeds national standards so we couldn't be uh more proud of them and I think we're showing a video next of in in training is that what's next well let's roll the tape [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] something uh I want to recognize that Delona mayor I don't want to hear myself twice Deltona mayor Santiago Deputy Deltona vice mayor Anita Bradford Deltona commissioner Dana mcol Dana I know you're here thank you uh Deputy Commissioner Marissa Vasquez the chairman of our foundation the valua sherff foundation board chair John Hamlin and valua Sheriff Foundation board trustee sadik Jaffer Barry cotton who is a repres resentative from Senator Rick Scott's office Barry thank you for being here uh just to let you know for the folks in the room the academy recruits live in the following cities in valuchi County five are from Delona uh commissioner did you hear that five are from Deltona one from Daytona one from the land two from Deon Springs two from new shna four from Orman Beach one from oin two from Port Orange and one from South Daytona to to say that the Valia Sheriff's Office isn't made up of Valia residents we're way ahead of the game Lieutenant Court I think you're uh you're up next okay good evening I am lieutenant John Court the assistant Academy commander and I will be presenting the following Awards in recognition of the top performer in each of the respective categories for top driver academic Excellence physical fitness Top Gun class leader and overall Top Cop in selecting the recipient of each award we have taken into consideration their performance to include qualification scores grade point averages leadership traits and overall dependability the first award is for top driver and in selecting this recipient we took into consideration their fastest lap speed and their overall performance at the driving track and the safe and effective operation of their issued Patrol vehicle I would like to recognize Deputy Jethro hopg good for being the top [Applause] driver [Applause] FDLE mandates all students must achieve an 80% or better on every exam to pass the award for academic Excellence is presented to the deputy with the highest overall academic average and in my opinion is the most difficult award to achieve this includes 19 written exams totaling over, 1600 questions and the deputy receiving this award achieved a perfect score on 15 of the 19 exams very very impressive overall academic average of 99.37% [Applause] as a training staff we did our best to ensure that these new deputies are physically prepared to begin their careers in law enforcement while laying the foundation for continued physical fitness throughout their careers as a whole the class improved on every aspect of the physical fitness test the over the course of 28 weeks and I'd like to recognize this next Deputy who maintained the highest physical fitness scores throughout the entire uh the entirety of the academy including the mile and a half run in 12 minutes 36 seconds a 26 inch vertical jump 53 sit-ups in one minute a 300 meter run in 42 seconds and 120 push-ups Max effort congratulations to Deputy wroy [Applause] [Music] Smith [Applause] these graduating deputies were privileged enough to receive some of the best firearms training in the state our range staff supplemented by accomplished Firearms instructors and members of our SWAT team ensured these deputies not only met the standard but far surpassed it it is because of them that we can proudly say every Deputy passed the FDLE Firearms quall the deputy with the highest Firearms qualification score who also proved to be the best competition shooter within the class is Deputy Dominic Del [Applause] Roo I think we might have to change his speakers out after this next one in order to be a good leader one must first be a good follower every one of these new deputies has been trained to be a leader and from this day forward they will be leaders within the community one Deputy in particular was tasked with extra leadership responsibility during class zero Force training this Deputy was responsible for accountability of her fellow recruits taking initiative in the absence of orders and acting as a mentor for her class throughout the highs and lows experienced during the academy and she did an outstanding job at it at this point I'd like to acknowledge the class leader for Academy class 04 Deputy Renee [Applause] McNab [Applause] this last award is reserved for the most well-rounded performer in the class this Deputy is a proven Problem Solver and forward-leaning thinker who always puts the needs of his class before his own taking lessons learned from his time and active service active duty service in the Army this Deputy earned the overall trust and confidence of being selfless dependable and proficient chosen by his peers it is my pleasure to present the award the award for Top Cop and the keys of a brand new Ford Explorer Patrol vehicle to Deputy Austin Graham [Applause] Sheriff back to you I want to share something uh that I found 36 years ago before I started my policing career I don't know where I found it I cut it out put it on a bulletin board and I read it probably once a month then when I became police chief in shy Oklahoma and in Daytona Beach I always read this when we swore in new new uh officers and now as the sheriff when we swear in new deputies I think the it's important for the family to hear this the article the print is too small now and too yellow for me to read so now they print the old man's version out so I could see everything that goes on so the T the title of this thing is the perfect cop to a police chief or Sheriff the perfect cop is someone who looks sharp works hard doesn't expect overtime pay makes good arrest without offending anyone writes detailed reports and keeps a neat reliable activity log they are always willing and able to work extra assignments when when asked they come up with fast favorable Solutions in short the perfect cop or dep is someone who makes the chief or the sheriff look good to the prosecuting attorney the perfect copper Deputy is a meticulous investigator who gathers and documents evidence obtains confessions to all crimes outlines each case in order to make the prosecutor's job easy they don't object when a case is plea bargained so the attorneys can go golfing on Friday no Friday at noon and don't mind if an offender gets probation or a suspended sentence because it's more convenient to make a deal than go to trial to the defense attorney the perfect Deputy is a bungling idiot who makes mistakes and someone of the defense attorney can manipulate and make Angry in court making the attorney look good in front of their client a perfect Deputy is someone who will agree to any and all plea bargaining proposed and to whom the defense attorney can call when they need protection from their own client to the city council or the County Council the perfect Deputy is someone who does their job so well they don't make waves so grateful for their job that they willingly work nights weekends and holidays they never ask for more than the city or county is willing to pay they do an exemplary job without adequate equipment and tools and best of all and don't adhere to this never write a ticket on any Council member's car that doesn't apply here to the people of the community a perfect Deputy is polite friendly person who walks to beat checks out strange noises watches for strange people they teach kids right from wrong and talks to them about the evils of drug use to their significant other the perfect Deputy never lets their job affect their emotions they spend hours dealing with drunks domestics drug users injured or dead people and then come home and are expected to be a loving well-adjusted member of the family I have been a cop for over 20 years and I have never metant the perfect cop only a few have even come close being totally honest and truly caring about people and doing the best job that they can but all the cops I have never ever known are human they love they laugh they cry they hurt and sometimes they die too young they try to make it to retirement although many do not divorce is common some become alcoholics and some suffer from police stresses seen in a variety of emotional disorders or heart attacks our job is often described as 98% board 2% sheer Terror so why do we do it because I think everybody in this room that wears a badge will tell you we simply believe in doing the right thing thank you kind of hard to follow that my goodness the sheriff and his executive Command Staff will present graduation certific certificates and we will have our pinning ceremony if you plan on pinning a recruit please make your way to the front right side of the room recruit R Renee McNab being pinned by Alexandria Meadows her best friend [Applause] TR [Applause] [Music] recruit Dominic Del raso being pinned by David Del raso his father [Applause] recruit Carrie Haynes being pinned by John Haynes her [Applause] brother [Applause] con recruit Quenton shuy being pinned by Andrew shuy his [Applause] father [Applause] congratulations recruit wroy Smith being pinned by Natasha curus his girlfriend oh my bad my bad [Applause] I kind of messed that up yeah let me try this again recruit wnro rroy Smith being pinned by Natasha curus his [Applause] girlfriend [Applause] next up recruit Jonathan Rivera being pinned by anarie Rivera and Carlos Santiago his sister and [Applause] brother this is what you call family business [Applause] recruit Sean Carol being pinned by Kat and Kinley Carroll his wife and [Applause] daughter [Applause] recruit Austin Graham being pinned by Ryan Graham his wife con recruit Tisha West being pinned by recruit Jonathan and Harper Carol his fiance and or excuse me her fiance and [Applause] daughter they're starting a family business [Applause] only you in a bit golf recruit Andrew cook being pinned by Natalie and Hazel cook his wife and [Applause] daughter bian where's your szy recruit Walter Warner being pinned by Linda Brink his [Applause] mother [Applause] recruit Haley dufor being pinned by Trent and Stacy dufor her father and stepmother [Applause] recruit Jonathan depinto being pinned by James Fugal his grandfather all guys got to stick together to J [Applause] recruit Cody Williams being pinned by Morgan Davis his girlfriend there you go Hotel recruit Richard Rubin III being pinned by Richard Rubin and Skyler Spiker his grandfather and girlfriend [Applause] know [Applause] recruit Jonathan Carol being pinned by recruit Tisha West and Harper Carol his fiance and daughter like you [Applause] recruit Jethro hopg good being pinned by Pamela hopg good and Charlene Felder his mother and girlfriend for [Applause] than whiskey shell yeah recruit Ruth Gonzalez being pinned by Jimmy and Joshua Gonzalez her husband and [Applause] son hey y'all left now wait till you get to be our age yeah Josh wants a shot at this [Applause] recruit Kimberly pisi being pinned by Brantley and Tom her son and father [Applause] we should have had a best dress award for this holy cow right [Applause] appreciate it sir recruit Kevin nanho being pinned by Roberto narano his father show [Applause] last but certainly not least recruit Raymond Gomez being pinned by Ventura and romilia Gomez his [Applause] parents thank you thank you sir now we'll have closing remarks by Sheriff [Applause] Chitwood first to all the parents grandparents and significant others that were here I really want to thank you because their career is really going to depend on you in these back rows back there because they're going to come home at nights you're never going to understand unless you're coming from a police family what they've gone through and for you to have a sympathetic ear a hug a hot meal and just listen to them sometimes is exactly what they're going to need so you're going on this journey with them and my final remarks to the graduates is this the Sheriff's Office was founded in like 1886 so thousands and thousands and thousands of of men and women have made that patch mean something that patch stands for honor it stands for integrity it stands for commitment to your community it stands for bravery keep that in mind as you go forward the second thing that's on your uniform that everybody sees is that name tag for Generations your families have made that name mean something your families put you your your grandparents your ancestors put you where you are now do your best not to dishonor either one of them that's what I have to say and we have to get moving because Carla our director of juvenile services that that dress is due back to Ariel by 9:30 that at Disney so we just we just have to say that so so Sergeant it's all yours who are [Applause] we got I got swi in swi in this way you want me to come down and do it or do it this way yeah and I and I and I just want to say to class five back there when you graduate we'll have our act together because clearly we've done this four times and we can't get it right all right are you ready raise your right hand St after me I state your name to solemnly swear or affirm to swear orir that I will support protect and defend that I will support protect and defend the Constitution consti and the State of Florida and the State of Florida that I am dly qualified to hold office that I am d qualified to hold office under the State Constitution under the State Constitution and that I will that I will well and Faithfully well and Faithfully perform the duties perform the duties of deputy sheriff ofy Sheriff ofan County ofan County on which I am about to enter so help me God turn around ladies and gentlemen the [Music] [Applause] of [Applause] all right take two Sergeant rioo please dismiss Academy 04 One Last Time Academy [Applause] hold on before we take that picture will the Bianca I know you're back there Maria I I I personally want to say this publicly thank you for your dedication to these young men and women to get them where they need to be it's your dedication and professionalism that got them here today so thank you you very [Applause] much