Las Vegas police hold graduation ceremony to welcome 81 recruits

The Metropolitan Police Department held a graduation ceremony on Tuesday, welcoming 81 new police recruits to the force.

Tuesday’s graduation was the first such ceremony open to family members in more than a year. Previously, COVID-19 restrictions limited attendance to staff and graduates.

The ceremony was closed to the public, but it streamed live from the Las Vegas Convention Center.

A news release and video highlighted one new officer, 26-year-old Termaine Turner. During the mass shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, Turner was working as a student security officer for UNLV and later decided he wanted to become a police officer.

“One thing I did know is that I wanted to help,” he said in the video. “When they asked us if we could stay, it wasn’t a yes or no for me. I felt like I needed to be there in order to help other people. So, that was one of the things that pushed me into this career.”

Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Hector Cintron kicked off the ceremony by commending the graduates for continuing their training during the pandemic.

“Having your badge placed on your chest is one of the most important and memorable moments of an officer’s career,” he said.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo spoke next and called Metro the “best police department in the United States.” Lombardo spoke to both the recruits and their relatives, officially welcoming them into the “Metro family.”

“It’s no secret the way we handled the protests associated with George Floyd and all the rhetoric and attitude towards law enforcement in recent months and probably in the last couple years has caused us problems within the ranks of law enforcement,” Lombardo said. “We had a different attitude here in Las Vegas, and my attitude towards the troops and the troops’ attitudes toward the community, each and every one of you is just as important as the person standing out there with a sign calling us racist pigs. And we weren’t going to tolerate it.”

Anthony Mendoza IV, 47, was chosen by the class as its speaker at the event. Mendoza, a veteran of the U.S. Army and Nevada National Guard, spoke about the training process.

“It was hammered into our training that all Vegas residents are humans first and should be extended the utmost respect when interacting with them,” he said. “It was taught that we should always execute our duties with the highest level of control and professionalism.”

At the ceremony’s conclusion, Lombardo presented each graduate with a badge.

The class began training on Oct. 4, 2020. It includes graduates from 16 states and six countries. Of the graduates, 27 are bilingual, and 26 are veterans. The recruits will now move on to 24 weeks of field training.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.