Four and half months ago, Asheya Mogensen packed her bags and moved from Nebraska to enroll in the Denver Sheriff Department academy.
On Friday, she graduated as one of the top recruits in her class of 49. For the first time in six years, the department presented an Academy Excellence Award to a recruit, and Mogensen was the recipient.
She was praised by sheriff’s department instructors for coming to class early and staying late to help classmates practice defensive tactics — a portion of the class that was particularly demanding.
Mogensen said she has dreamed of wearing a badge since she was 5.
“With everything going on in law enforcement, someone has to step up and do the job,” she said.
The 49 who graduated Friday complete for the sheriff’s department, adding more than 200 new deputies to the force in the past year. The city boosted the department’s hiring to relieve overworked deputies and ease a staffing shortage that left the city .
The department has been given approval to hire 120 new deputies in 2017, Sheriff Patrick Firman said. The department has more than 850 uniformed staff members.
The department has focused on building diversity among its ranks, and the last names listed in Friday’s graduation program — Abeyta-Martinez, Longoria, Mouketo-Ngoma, Toaipa and Young among them — showed it.
“We’re especially excited about the diversity,” Firman said. “We’ve been trying to emphasize that with our recruiting and hiring. It’s paying off.”
The graduates join a department that has faced serious scrutiny after a series of excessive-force cases cost the city millions in legal settlements.
They also will go to work in crowded jail pods where . The danger of their jobs was acknowledged during speeches by various public officials.
Mayor Michael Hancock reminded the graduates of the seriousness of the oath he would soon administer and the responsibility that comes with the badge the families would soon pin on their crisp, blue uniforms.
“I hope you never forget that it is an honor and a privilege to wear that badge,” Hancock said. “It’s one you have earned but one that can be taken away from you very quickly.”
Other awards presented to the class included:
- Valedictorian, best defensive tactics and best defensive driving: Josh Winters
- Academic award: Adam Omansky
- Top gun: Michael Longoria
- Physical fitness: Alexandria Rivera
- Most-improved physical fitness: Brandon Yazgulian
