Tulsa welcomes 14 new officers to the force after graduation of Academy Class 130

On Friday, 14 new Tulsa Police Officers took their oath of office. Academy Class 130 graduated after completing six months of training.

Most of these graduates are from outside of Oklahoma. One is from Washington State, and three are first-generation Americans from Sweden, Spain and Mexico.

The graduation celebration isn't the end—it's the start of a commitment to serve the people of Tulsa. The 14 officers spent the last 30 weeks training; some are brand new to Tulsa.

"I'm thrilled, it's been a blessing. I got to work from some amazing people. I learned a ton from them and all of the instructors really pushed me and motivated me to become the best that I can be,” said graduate Melissa Ringnalda.

Ringnalda is from Washington State and came to Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma Wesleyan University. She says one of her professors there encouraged her to pursue a career with the Tulsa Police, and the decision changed her life.

"It's been a lot of growth and time to learn how this job works and learning how to deal with the exhaustion and being able to pick myself up and keep going back and just learning that I can do anything,” said Ringnalda.

The graduates spent more than 1,000 hours learning about a range of topics.

“They learn everything from how to de-escalate violent situations, to how to protect themselves, defensive tactics. The longest block they learn from front to end is legal,” said Chief Dennis Larsen.

Chief Larsen says he's excited about adding these new officers to the force, but the department is still about a hundred officers short.

"We are after everyone, all the way up to age 45. We recruit all across the southwest, we are in every major college on their social media pages, trying to pull the best of the best to come to Tulsa,” said Larsen.

The 14 officers will now start 16 weeks of field training, where they will ride with a training officer, and after that, the graduates will be on their own.

Another academy class will graduate in about three months. The next open academy starts in September and there are still spots available.

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