Editor's Note:
On Friday, February 8, 2008, another class graduated the Tulsa Police Academy. Apprentice Police Officer Amy Hoehner, like her twenty-two classmates, endured 26 weeks of vigorous training, trials and tribulations.
Below is the speech that Officer Hoehner gave during the graduation ceremony. We hope you've enjoyed Officer Hoehner's blog contributions about her academy experience. We hope she--and other officers--continue to share their experiences in the field.
Congratulations Class 2007-98...we're proud of your accomplishments!
Graduation Speech
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well," (Martin Luther King Jr., 1956).
Class 2007-98 is closing the first chapter of the rest of their lives. We entered this building and stood on this stage as 24 strangers. As we sit here today we have become much more than friends, we are family. The gap between my brother on my left and me has closed. We have been armed with the shield that will protect us, our fellow officers and the City of Tulsa.
We share memories that could best be described as nightmares (ok some of them). It all started on Black Monday with Cpl. Smith yelling, “Give me two more”. It seemed to be a trend with the range staff because a few weeks after Black Monday it was Sgt. Eckert bettering our minds and bodies by telling us to get on our face, on our back, and touch the fence.
Then there were the days of defensive tactics. There are a handful of us that are over 30 and I think it’s safe to say we felt every bit of being 30 something. As all of us went home after a fun filled day of fighting professional fighters we had to practice because that’s what good APO’s do. The dinner time conversation went something like, “Baby my whole body hurts. It was a rough day in defensive tactics. That stuff really hurts. Come here let me show you.”
But what would defensive tactics be without the day of OC or pepper spray? The entire class dreaded this day and rightfully so. We had to spray each other, fight an instructor, and handcuff someone all while fighting off the pain from the devil’s spit. Some APO’s went hands on and some just neutralized the suspect. Either way we had to put an end to the torture. When we were finally finished, the reactions ranged from people running in circles to kneeling in the parking lot praying to God that the pain would stop sometime soon.
Law enforcement driver training was by far one of the best parts of the academy if not the best. There is nothing like having someone hand you keys to a police car and tell you to drive fast. On top of that we were on the other side of the city and Cpl. Smith was nowhere close. We drove frontwards, backwards, and sideways and had a blast. We cheered for each other when time was of the essence and held our breath as cones went flying. When we finished law enforcement driver training not only had we accomplished one more hurdle of the academy but we also knew we had to slow down once we hit Admiral in our personal vehicles.
Twenty-six weeks were filled with ups and downs, tears, laughter, and oh yeah tests. We didn’t make this journey alone. Our families, spouses, significant others, moms and dads felt pressure as much as we did. Time was taken away from them with gun cleaning, studying, and the constant traffic of APO’s in and out of their homes. I don’t think that any of us can say thank you enough to our families for being so patient and supportive. Also know that you will never be alone; you are family now.
Before the class video begins I would like to end with a quote that has been taped to our fridge in the break room during the duration of the academy:
“This is my shield. I bear it before me into battle, but it is not mine alone. It protects my brother on my left. It protects my city. I will never let my brother out of its shadow nor my city out of its shelter. I will die with my shield before me facing the enemy.”














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