LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department celebrated on Friday the graduation from the police academy of its two officer trainees.
Dale Hoskins and Andrew Welter graduated from the Santa Rosa Junior College Police Academy in Windsor in a Friday morning ceremony and took their oath of office from Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Late last year, in an attempt to solve his department's short staffing and retain officers, Rasmussen introduced a new officer trainee program.
In December, the city of Lakeport began a recruitment seeking local residents interested in joining the police department who hadn't attended the police academy.
The city would pay for their academy education and have a job waiting for them when they graduated, with the goal being that the new officers would commit to staying on and working in the community long-term.
The response to the recruitment was strong, said Rasmussen, with the city receiving dozens of applications and numerous promising candidates.
The two standouts were Hoskins and Welter.
Hoskins previously held posts at the county of Lake, including working as a juvenile probation officer and for Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Welter had been a part-time paid call firefighter for South Lake County Fire Protection District, and also had worked for the Hidden Valley Lake Association's security division and the Santa Rosa Junior College Police Department in one of its police training intern programs.
Rasmussen hired the two young men, who he introduced to the Lakeport City Council in March. They started with the police department on March 28, going through an orientation ahead of starting the academy on April 2.
Traveling to the graduation on Friday were several Lakeport Police officers, headed by Rasmussen and Lt. Jason Ferguson, along with Lakeport Mayor Marc Spillman.
“It was tough but exciting,” Hoskins said of his academy experience after the graduation.
On Friday, Rasmussen swore both of the new officers in, with Hoskins' wife Danielle and Welter's girlfriend, Mikala Angelic, pinning their brand new badges onto their uniforms.
“I want you to remember that these badges don't belong to you, they don't belong to me, they don't belong to the department or the city. They belong to the people that we serve,” said Rasmussen, adding that the badges are on loan to the two new officers to be worn to them as long as they uphold the Constitution and code of ethics.
After the ceremony, Welter added another celebratory moment to the day when he proposed to Angelic. She accepted.
Welter has a twin brother who also graduated from the academy on Friday, and who is reportedly being considered for a deputy position with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The video above is a shortened presentation of highlights; the video below is the full graduation ceremony.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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