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The Police Of cers Journal
Academy leader receives several
awards, including LEEP honor — By Jennifer Gomori, POJ Editor
Grant Glende showed his peers and instructors at Oakland Police Academy he knows how to be a leader and at the Dec. 14 academy graduation ceremony he was recognized for that initiative with a Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) $2,000 Award.
The LEEP Award, given to pre-service police academy graduates, is based on multiple factors including academic excellence, hands on skills, physical tness and peer evaluation. “It’s a great help,” Glende said of the LEEP Award. “I’m extremely appreciative of it and completely honored to receive that award.”
“His academic average was solid, but his peer evaluation was very high,” said Oakland Police Academy Director David Ceci. “That pushed him over the top ... which I think speaks volumes about him. As the Class XO (Executive Of cer), he sometimes has to be the heavy hand and to still have the overall majority of the class rate him very high, that speaks volumes to his leadership ability.”
Glende made such a good impression with the academy at Oak- land Community College (OCC) that he also received the $1,000 Sgt. James Collins Memorial Scholarship from the Collins family based on leadership and military service. He was noticed on a statewide level as well. “He’s getting the MCOLES award, which is a pretty big award for a cadet to get because it’s from the state,” Ceci said of the honorary award for Outstanding Performance.
Glende was one of 38 pre-service cadets in a graduating class of 51. Pre-service cadets pay their own tuition at academy.
Oakland Academy starts each new class off with a meet and greet of sorts. That’s where Glende shined. “Everybody introduces them- selves and we do a team building exercise and see who takes the lead roles in those exercises,” Ceci said. “A lot of times the military experience lends them to that. (Glende) was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps. He served for four years.”
The 24-year-old’s leadership abilities led to him being given the position of Class Executive Of cer. “He helps the academy staff run the class. He’s the student level leader,” Ceci said. “He’s turned out to be the perfect pick for that position. He’s done a phenomenal job.”
Planning on getting married soon, Glende and his bride-to-be de- cided it would be better for him to work locally in law enforcement rather than in the military. “It was similar to the military and that’s
“i can’t say enough of what an asset he was to our staff. He went above and beyond ... he displayed excellent leadership and was great to work with,” said David Ceci.
Photo courtesy of Oakland Police Academy
POLC Executive Committee member Jeff Gormley (left) congratulates Oakland Police Academy graduate Grant Glende on his $2,000
LEEP Award.
the only other thing that would make me happy,” Glende said. “It was nothing but brotherhood, a family of people working together to achieve one goal. Law enforcement is the same mentality.”
Enjoying the structure of military service from 2012-2016, he had his next career move all planned out. After being discharged, Glende immediately began pursuing an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Jus- tice from OCC. “I rolled right into getting the degree and then rolled right into the academy after that,” he said. “I plan on getting my bachelor’s in 2019. I want to keep education rolling and further my- self.”
“I can’t say enough of what an asset he was to our staff. He went above and beyond ... he displayed excellent leadership and was great to work with,” Ceci said.
Glende was in the process of interviewing for Southeast Michigan police of cer positions immediately following graduation. “I just want to serve 25 to 30 years in law enforcement. I will gure out other opportunities along the way,” Glende said of other possible law enforcement positions. d
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