Mpls. Police Academy Cadets Complete Traditional Run

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The newest recruits for the Minneapolis Police Department met the public Monday morning by running through the streets of the city.

Two groups comprised of 59 men and women donned dark blue sweats with their names printed in white on the front. They formed two lines near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge on Nicollet Island, and after marching for about 100 steps behind a cadet flying the academy banner, were ordered to take it to double-time.

Their destination was the public area between Minneapolis City Hall and the Hennepin County Government Center.

There, in front of commuters getting off the light rail train and headed to work, the cadets performed some calisthenics before again forming two lines for the jog back to Nicollet Island.

Pedestrians stopped and watched as the cadets weaved their way along sidewalks and alongside morning rush-hour traffic.

"We run through the City of Minneapolis, let the citizens see what we're doing, see our new people," the academy's Sgt. Steve Bantil said. "Kind of a tradition."

The 59 cadets is the largest group that's ever trained at one time under Bantil.

"It presents some challenges," Bantil said. "But I've got a great staff, a lot of officers that help me out, a lot of great trainers. We've been doing really well with it.

The cadets have been training for weeks. That includes field work and classroom exercises.

"They're doing really well, they're going to be a lot of great police officers when they hit the street," said Bantil.

The first group graduates in two weeks. The rest have graduation in December.

"I couldn't be happier with the quality of people have here in these two classes," Bantil said. "We really have some good candidates here."