By: Nicole Acker

After six months at the police academy and six months in field training, Officers Galen Fliege and Candace Cook are set to patrol the Menlo Park streets as solo police officers. Officer Fliege and Officer Cook graduated from the College of San Mateo police academy in August 2016. The two started as police recruits in March 2016 and successfully completed 888 hours of intensive police academy training, which consisted of written and physical abilities tests.

Fliege and Cook’s training to become a police officer did not stop there. Under the training and mentoring of police corporals (field training officers), they additionally received over 900 hours of practical training, which allowed them to apply firsthand experience to situations/incidents they read or seen in the classroom. This month, Fliege and Cook successfully passed all four phases of their field training programs. They are excited to continue to develop, learn, and serve the Menlo Park community.