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Being A Cadet Officer Essay

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For almost a year now, I have been a member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Cadet program. As a member of this program that emphasizes leadership and civic engagement, I trained in a 15-week academy for the title of "cadet". Upon graduation, I was now able to fulfill the duties of a cadet, which focus on working alongside law enforcement to build stronger ties with the community through the means of addressing community concerns. As a cadet, I’m held to the same moral standards as any other peace officer and also serve as a representative of the department. Through this program, I learned of the department’s core values, “Integrity in all we say and do.” Or as it was consistently taught to us, “Doing what is right even when no one is …show more content…

During one of these debriefings, an instructor once again mentioned the behavior of one of the junior cadet recruits. I had previously learned that the recruit mentioned had autism and had trouble focusing sometimes and had failed to graduate from the previous class due to an incident the recruit had that was understandably beyond their control. So without hesitation, I asked the instructor, “But there’s a reason for this behavior, correct?” Soon the room fell silent, an incredulous look formed on the instructor's face and the officer present went quiet as well. I then realized that I had potentially acted in an insubordinate manner and at the time thought I could potentially face termination. However, I realized that standing my ground in defense of this recruit was far more important than the uniform I had worked 15 weeks to earn. Once all was said and done, both officers explained what I had done was not grounds for termination and commended me for taking a stand and how to handle a similar future situation. Not too long after, I had the privilege of seeing the recruit graduate alongside the rest of the recruit

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