New Denver police officer wants to build trust with community
Getting to graduation day was a long process for all of the Denver police recruits who became officers on Friday, but especially for Earl Carr.
"For me, it was a little bit longer than normal," he said.
He worked for 10 years as a machine operator and five for various gun dealers. Now in his 40s, he decided to make a career change and joined the Denver Police Academy.
"Age was kind of a concern in the beginning," he said. "I just wanted to make sure I kept up with the younger guys."
He initially joined in 2021 but unbeknownst to him, he had one more hurdle to clear.
"(I) had a partial ACL tear. So, from that point on, I basically got what we call recycled," he explains.
He was able to get a civilian job at DPD headquarters for a year, then he returned to the academy this year.
He says while his injury was a challenge, it didn't deter him because he is on a mission. It's the whole reason he became a police officer to begin with.
"I mean, let's face it, the George Floyd thing was really huge," he said. "So, I thought it was a great time to do it because there was so much that was damaged because of that as far as our connection with the community and I wanted to be a part of mending that."
Now a full-fledged officer he says that he, along with his 42 classmates, is ready to face new challenges and work while restoring trust.
"We're here to serve. We're here to protect. You know, we're here to be those guardians when we need to be," he said.
He wants people to know this class, and department, understand how things got this way, but they are doing their part to mend fences and build bridges with the community.
"I just want people to know that, you know, that's what we look to do is, to you know. And that's just coming from the heart," Officer Carr said.
This was a very large graduating class for DPD because in addition to the 42 first-time officers like Earl, earlier Friday morning DPD graduated 16 lateral recruits. They are people who were officers from other agencies who became DPD officers, bringing the total number of graduates to 58.