Anchorage Police Department welcomes new officers

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Anchorage Police Department recruit Ryan Nigh gets a kiss from his son Preston, 5, before a police academy graduation ceremony Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018 at the Wilda Marston Theater. "When I was in the army he wanted to jump out of airplanes," said Nigh. "Now he wants to be a cop." (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Fifteen Anchorage Police Department academy graduates took an oath on Thursday and became Alaska’s newest police officers. Fourteen are joining APD, and one is joining the Palmer Police Department, which doesn’t have its own academy training program.

Family and friends packed Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library in Midtown Anchorage, and one by one the recruits took to the stage to have their badges pinned to their shirt.

Former members of all five branches of the military were represented in the graduating class. Ryan Nigh, a former soldier in the U.S. Army, was there with his family, including his son Preston, 5. “When I was in the Army he wanted to jump out of airplanes,” said Nigh. “Now he wants to be a cop.”

This story has been corrected. A previous version incorrectly stated that there were four branches of the military. There are five.