Christmas came early this year to 25 men and women of Basic Academy Class 187 who were sworn as Deputy Sheriffs and Police Officers on Tuesday by Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

 Lt. Jeff Bardzik said the accomplishment of the graduates was impressive.

“The instruction included law, community relations, officer safety, health and fitness, cultural diversity, ethical decision making,” and a wide range of other subjects he said. The trainees were shown to be committed to principle, hard work and integrity, Lt. Bardzik said.

Photos by Professional Services Responders Randy and Kyle Frager

Deputy Brad Gonzales, served as Chaplain of the Class 187 and gave an invocation.

“We are thankful for the honor and duty we have been charged with to help others and do good continuously,” he said in part.

There was a show of appreciation for the Tactical Staff and special recognition was given to Deputy Jeff Hallock, Santa Ana Police Officer Garry Couso, and Manhattan Beach Police Officer Ron Walker. The three are being reassigned.

Lt. Bardzik said the academy benefits greatly when outside agencies assign sworn personnel to serve as Tactical Officers. 

Deputy Jeremy Buraglia, served as Class President and he gave a talk to the hundreds of family and friends who came to the graduation.

He made a reference to the fact that Section 187 of the California Penal Code is Murder, with malice aforethought.

 “The first day we thought the tactical staff made it crystal clear they definitely had malicious aforethought,” he quipped.

“We learned over the last 26 weeks that that they carried no malice whatsoever. The reason for their demeanor and expectations was exactly the opposite. They were so hard on us because they cared so much. They only wanted to make us into the best possible law enforcement officers that we could be.”

The academy works to create a stressful conditions for the trainees and then teach them to perform with excellence despite the stress.
The top performers were also honored.

There were 12 Deputies among the 25 graduates and they placed first in four of the categories, Deputy Storm Huie took the Physical Training category, Deputy Amyh Raphael, Communications Skills; Deputy Katherine Decoup-Crank, Practical Applications and Deputy Brad Gonzalez, Written Examinations. Deputy Robert White tied with Huntington Beach Police Officer Jesse Garber in the Arrest Controls Techniques category. Deputy White is the son of Captain Ron White. Officer Garber also took the Fire Arms Proficiency honor and was named the Class’s Outstanding Officer.

The keynote speaker was Chief Roy Campos, of the Downey Police Department.

“I wish to thank Lieutenant Bardzik and his academy staff for the wonderful work they do in making this training facility what we all recognize as the very finest that California and the nation has to offer,” Chief Campos said.

He said that it was during the holiday season 30 years ago that he had graduated from the police academy.

He then offered remarks of guidance to the graduates, not as a chief but as a veteran of virtually every aspect of law enforcement.

“I was one of nine 9 kids, a police student worker in 1977 at LAPD where I did various errands and file work,” he said of his life experience.  “ It comes from me having worked every stage at Downey police department.” 

He has three areas of advice; People, Teamwork and Caring.

Their training will continue throughout their careers but the graduates now have sufficient skills to assess people responsibly.

“You have the skills and talent to recognize the importance of people we approach every day in every potential encounter you have.  Value your partners, your community members, have respect for even the people you arrest. “

He added that care must be taken with those who are arrested, no matter what the circumstances of the arrest.

“We don’t break the law to enforce the law,” he said.  All people must be treated with empathy and dignity and respect, and sometime respect involves recognizing the danger a person poses to the community.

On the teamwork side, he told how fellow officers had helped him every step of the way, even to the extent of preparing him for promotional exams they were competing against him in.

And caring is what will bring success.

“With genuine and sincere caring you will not fail,” he said. “You may make mistakes here and there but if you care, show diligence and caring in all you do, you are going to excel, you are going to shine,” he advised.

Basic Academy Class 187 By The Numbers

1 Former Orange County Correctional Services Technician sworn as a Deputy.

2 Females sworn as Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies.

3 Former Sheriffs Special Offices sworn as Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies.

4 City police departments in Orange County with graduates in Class 187. Three Los Angeles County city police departments also had graduates in the class.

5 Military veterans in the class.

6 Dynamic Will To Survive Events in Academy.

7 Categories of Special Achievement Awards.

9 Agencies represented by the graduates.

10 Core members of Academy staff, one Lieutenant, three Tactical Sergeants and Six Tactical Officers.

12 Deputy Sheriffs in class.

13 Members of outside agencies in class. 14 Charity Events attended by class during Academy

15 Graduates with a BA degree

25 Graduates in the class

26 Weeks of training

37 Recruits who started training with Class 187

43 Learning Domains covered in Academy

50 Physical Training Sessions

69 Estimated number of lives that may be saved with blood donated by class members

135 Miles run together as a class on distance runs

837 Hours of community service donated by class.

984 Hours of training

5,000 Average number of rounds fired by each graduate in training.