New on the beat: 35 police cadets graduate from local academy

By Jeff Morganteen
Staff Writer
The Advocate Posted: 11/15/2008 02:45:34 AM EST

STAMFORD - In the lobby of the Rich Forum on Friday, a mass of blue exchanged hugs and handshakes.

A few minutes earlier, 35 police cadets had received diplomas after 28 weeks of jogging, doing push-ups, taking defensive training, practicing shooting and - by far the most lasting memory of police academy - running through an obstacle course after receiving a shot of pepper spray.

"I now know that our toughest criminals can be incapacitated and that the makers of OC spray are sick people," Michael Ucci, the 23-year-old class speaker, said during his speech at the graduation ceremony.

Recruits began training at the Stamford Police Academy on Belden Avenue this summer and received their diplomas Friday night in front of family, friends and camera flashes. Recipient of the class academic award, Ucci will join the Greenwich Police Department next week.

Stamford Lt. William Watrous, who runs the academy, said the graduates now enter several months of field training before becoming full-fledged police officers. Cadets didn't live at the Stamford academy but commute there for training.

"They come in not knowing anything" about police work, Watrous said. "Hopefully you give them all the skills they need to keep themselves and the citizens safe."

In addition to a rigorous physical training program, the cadets have legal schooling in motor vehicle violations and penal codes, said Danielle Visconti, 30, who lives in Stratford and will join the Stamford Police Department next week.

One of three women in the class, Visconti said she chose police work because of the varied responsibilities.

"You have to be prepared for anything and think on your feet," she said. "You don't know what the expect."

During the graduation ceremony, a slide show of the months-long training played as audience members awaited the cadets' arrival. Police chiefs from Stamford, Hartford, Norwalk, Greenwich, New Haven and Stratford attended.

Twelve recruits head to Hartford. Five each went to Stamford and Greenwich, while Norwalk received two cadets. Stamford Police have seen a shrinking pool of applicants since the 1990s; the city employs 280 officers although it is authorized for 370.

Stamford police spokesman Lt. Sean Cooney said the department is trying to expand its applicant pool to the national level, a recent trend among police departments.

Stamford resident Louis Scarano, Jr., 35, mingled in the Rich Forum lobby wearing his blue police uniform, the Stamford police patch embroidered on his shoulder.

Police work runs in his family. Scarano said he always wanted to join the police force because his uncle was an officer.

"It was a roller coaster," Scarano said of his 28 weeks of training. "At the beginning, no one knew what to expect."

Scarano said he expected to be excited when he hits the streets with a training officer in the next few weeks.

"I always saw my uncle and police work looked like a rewarding job," he said. "I'm not the kind of person who does the same thing every day."

Stamford resident Frederick Quezada, 24, will join the Greenwich Police Department. He called his choice a calling.

"I know I want to help people," he said. "It was just the way to go."

- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 964-2215.