For a lot of people in Orange County, December 24, 2007 was Christmas Eve.
For Orange County Basic Academy Class 184 it was Black Monday.
That is when 49 recruits arrived at the Sheriff’s Regional Training Academy to meet Academy Commander Lt. Mark Billings and the Academy Tactical Staff and to start their training
For the 37 new Peace Officers of Class 184 who graduated Thursday night, the lessons they received on Black Monday was a gift they will cherish for many years.
Picture by Reserve Deputy Steve Sobodos
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Regional Training Academy is recognized as one of the best training academies in California, if not the nation,” said Class President Matthew Lemmon, later sworn as a police officer for the City of Santa Ana.
There were lots of tests.
“Our physical fitness was tested, our composure under stress was tested. Our integrity was tested. The Tactical Staff commanded and expected perfection. We were a group of inexperienced individuals, many of us were thinking, ‘what did I get myself into?’ We became a group of individuals who were united in action. For the past 26-weeks we spent more time with our classmates than with our own families,” Officer Lemmon said. More...