Katie Willard Graduates, Along with 300 Other LAPD Cadets

There were a whole lot of blue uniforms Sunday morning as over 300 LAPD cadets graduated from the Class 7-2011 program, joined by hundreds of fellow cadets, family members and law enforcement officials. It was one of the largest classes ever to graduate from the cadet program.

Although her father, , was not there, Katie Willard proudly graduated Sunday along with 16 other graduates . The other branches represented span the entire city, from Central and Rampart through Hollenbeck, Foothill, Hollywood and the West Valley.

It was Katie’s hope, which we at Patch shared, that her father would be able to attend the ceremony. But despite our best efforts, he disappeared again into the night. Since about him, he was discharged from Alhambra Hospital in Rosemead, where we met up with him, and returned to the North Hollywood Park — and also Woodbridge Park, which he chooses because it is near his mother’s former house on La Maida Avenue. He was then admitted again into a hospital after two days, this time to the Sherman Oaks Hospital. After three days there, he was discharged and has again gone missing.  

“He was here in spirit,” said Katie’s mother, Deborah Presley Brando, after the graduation ceremony. Deborah has been shuttling Katie to and from her classes to enable her to complete the program, even during difficult months of battling her own breast cancer.

“It would have been great if [Kent] could have come,” she said. “But that wasn’t meant to be. But, you know, none of this would have happened if not for Kent. Katie’s known cops her whole life, being around [Willard’s]. Kent always encouraged her to become a cadet. This is her dream coming true, but it’s his dream too.”

The Galen Center at USC was the setting for the graduation, and although a heavy rain was falling on this Sunday morning, the venue was packed. Speakers included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger.

Cadet Daniel Cabrera of the Olympic Post was chosen to speak on behalf of his fellow graduates.

“Through these 18 weeks, one word has occurred to me,” he said, “and that word is ‘struggle.’ Another word is ‘triumph.’ And all of us have overcome many struggles to be here today, and to realize the triumph of wearing the blue uniform.”

“Everything I have learned here,” he continued, “has helped me to be a better person. We started here as strangers, and we end here today as members of a team.”

Accompanying all the graduates was a large company of cadet parents, proudly wearing blue ribbons to declare their dedication to this program. Birgitt Waseh, the mother of cadet Josephine Waseh of the West Valley Division, spoke on behalf of her fellow parents, and explained how the cadet program, which is offered free to community youth from 14 to 20, has profoundly impacted her daughter’s life, and her own.

“Communication with [my daughter] became very difficult,” she said. “She would get very angry and very emotional. I didn’t know what to do, or how to help her. She was on the right track but on the wrong train. But [the LAPD Cadet program] changed her life. Now she is focused on the positive, on being a leader of her community, and on being the best person she can be.”

Kamala Harris, who worked in law enforcement for years as District Attorney of San Francisco, spoke about the necessity of setting high personal standards in the community. As the first female African-American and Asian-American attorney general in California history, she obviously knows a little bit about the subject.

“By becoming LAPD cadets,” she said, “you have joined the Role Model Club. You are watched every day by the community, and so you must live always up to a high standard of excellence. In the Role Model club you set the example by which the entire community should live.

“The Role Model club can be lonely,” she continued. “But I want you to know we will always be there to support you doing your job, which is giving voice to the voiceless, and help to the helpless.”

Police Chief Charlie Beck echoed this wisdom by stressing the attribute most important to cadets and officers alike: character.

“Your character is defined by your ability to look beyond your own needs and act for public service. Every day on this job we see people with challenged lives. Character is about how you treat those people, people who can do nothing for you. While you’re here you work every day on your strength and your knowledge. But more important than either of those is character. You must put as much effort into service to the community as into protecting the community.”

The LAPD awarded several graduates with prizes of laptop computers and iPads to honor their exemplary character and achievements.

“Today shows us what the future looks like,” Harris said. “And looking at these cadets, the future looks pretty bright.”

Over 6,000 youth have graduated from the LAPD Cadet Programs since 2007. To participate, community youth ranging in age from 14 – 20 years are required to be in good scholastic standing. The program teaches discipline, leadership, academic excellence and life-skills. During the 18-week course, students receive training in all the fields required to become an LAPD officer, including Principles of Law Enforcement, as well as Traffic Enforcement, Conflict Resolution, Crime Scene Investigation, Cultural Diversity, Laws of Arrest, Gang Avoidance and Narcotics Prevention.

“By joining the LAPD Cadets,” wrote Chief Beck, “youth are challenged to improve not only themselves, but also the schools they attend and the neighborhoods in which they live.”

The program is supported by the Los Angeles Police Foundation as well as The Ray Charles Foundation, which donated a generous multi-year grant. USC made this graduation ceremony possible by donating the use of the Galen Center.

Each cadet was given a red rose following the ceremony to give to the one person that inspired them most.

Asked who the recipient of her rose would be, Katie said, “My mom. I couldn’t have done this without her.”  

Though it was initially tough to find Deborah in the vast sea of people surrounding the graduates, when Katie found her mother her face lit up, and they hugged for a long time.

“I have never been more proud of you,” her mother said.

With her arms wrapped around her mom, Katie beamed with pride in her Cadet uniform. Asked how it felt to have come this far, she answered so softly in this big crowd that I couldn’t hear her, and asked her to repeat herself. She smiled broadly and spoke a little louder. “It feels good,” she said. “It feels good.”