SANFORD - Central Carolina Community College's Basic Law Enforcement Training program recently graduated a total of 29 cadets from its day and night classes. The spring day program held its graduation May 20 and the yearlong night program held its graduation May 21 at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center.

All the graduates are qualified to serve as certified law enforcement officers in North Carolina.

Graduates of the day program were: Thomas Rouse, Robert McNeill, Cara Schneider, Mark D'Amato, Terrance Simpson, Frank Oldham, and Madison Cline, all of Sanford; Feliciano Jimenez, of Broadway; Marcus Klumb and Jedidiah Bristow, both of Siler City; Michael Griffin and Seth Crompton, both of Angier; Jonathan Oldham, of Goldston; Joshua Tindal, of Fuquay Varina; Frederick Chandler, of Apex; Michael Schwartz, of Carthage; Kimberly Edwards, of Cameron; and Stephanie Bloyd, of Linden.

Special honors awarded in the day program were: Most Improved Physical Fitness - Jonathan Oldham, Fastest POPAT - Seth Crompton, Jimmy Collins Top Gun Award -

Terrance Simpson, Highest Grade Point Average - Frederick Chandler, and Highest State Exam Score -Terrance Simpson.

Graduates of the night program were: Taylor Cupps, Timothy Stroupe and Yanira Vanegas, all of Sanford; Santiago Crawford, Jerome Eldridge and Carnell Campbell, all of Dunn; Alisa Burns and John Werbelow, both of Lillington; Angel Pegram, of Benson; Joseph Cunningham, of Angier; and Dakota Humphrey, of Seagrove.

Special honors awarded in the night program were: Most Improved Physical -- Alisa Burns, Fastest POPAT - Dakota Humphrey, Jimmy Collins Top Gun - John Werbelow, Highest GPA - Timothy Stroupe, and Highest State Exam Score - Dakota Humphrey.

Lt. C. Brian Estes, of the Lee County Sheriff's Office, gave the graduation address at both ceremonies. Cadet Class Leader Marc D'Amato gave the class response at the day class graduation and Cadet Class Leader Santiago Crawford gave the class response at the night class graduation. BLET Program Director Robert Powell and assistant instructor Lt. Kenneth Lee presented the graduation certificates.

BLET training took place at the college's Emergency Services Training Center, in Sanford. To graduate, the cadets had to complete 624 hours of law enforcement training in areas such as criminal and motor vehicle laws, vehicle stops, first responder medical care, firearms training, driver's training, sheriff's duties, and subject control/arrest techniques.

Each graduate also passed all 35 blocks of instruction, a rigorous 12-week physical training program, and a four-hour written comprehensive state examination administered by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Training and Standards Division.

Sponsors for the day program were the police departments of Sanford, Broadway, Dunn and Carthage; the sheriffs' offices of Chatham, Harnett, Lee, Cumberland, and Moore counties; Chatham Central High School, Joint Orange-Chatham Community Action Agency, and the Veterans Administration.

Sponsors for the night program were the police departments of Benson, Dunn, Lillington and Siler City; and the sheriff's offices of Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties.

For more information about the college's BLET program, visit www.cccc.edu/blet or contact Robert Powell at rpowell@cccc.edu or 919-777-7774.