City of Amarillo premiers documentary on 100th Police Academy
The city of Amarillo premiered its five-part documentary Thursday on YouTube spotlighting its 100th Police Academy, which graduated its class in July.
Chase Brady, the city of Amarillo multimedia production manager who produced the project for the city, said that the idea for the documentary was a collaborative effort that came about with conversations with Police Chief Martin Birkenfeld in August 2022 about how special it was to be at the century mark for its city academy with how training has changed over the years.
“It really started as kind of a team effort of 'let’s collaborate with the police department to make it something special,'” Brady said. “Amarillo has been doing this academy since the early 1900s, so it’s come a long way since its humble beginnings of teaching recruits in a single room for two or three weeks. It’s incredible how it’s grown over the years and how in-depth the academy is now."
Brady said that while he has done some documentaries on a smaller scale, this was his most ambitious project so far. He spent over a month editing the documentary to its final version.
“It’s interesting because, you know, you put a lot of work into it. And so, I’ve seen the documentary, like hundreds of times at this point. But it’s nice that I get to share with the community and other people get to see it,” he said. “It’s interesting the life that it has after I’ve kind of put my work into it.”
The importance for people to see the documentary for Brady is so that the community can get a better understanding of the experience that police officers go through to serve the city.
“This gave me a deeper understanding of what it takes to become a police officer; it humanizes the police department for me personally that they all come to this one place to all pursue the same goal,” Brady said.
The documentary takes the viewer on a journey from day one of the academy, where recruits are welcomed into the training, showing their progress as they become more physically fit to a better understanding of their training to reach the result.
One of the officers highlighted in the documentary was Patrick Burley.
He spoke about the importance of representation in the police department to a community.
“You always want to see someone that looks like you, someone that came from the same neighborhood that you came from, do positive things,” Burley said. “I think me being seen in that light will help, you know, bring more of that to this department.”
Burley said that for him, he wants to represent the department in the best light possible so that the future generations of officers see the value in the service to the city.
“So, for me, I want younger kids to see me out on the streets protecting and serving and say that 'I can do that if he’s doing it,'" he said. “You know, you don’t have to play sports. You don’t have to go to college; you can be a police officer. You can serve the community you live in.”
Officers Sarah Dimas and Rachel Avila, also featured in the documentary, spoke about their experience in the academy and seeing it on display.
Dimas said that she has always had a servant’s heart and after meeting Officer Cisneros at a Sod Poodles game, she was inspired to want to join the force.
“I really enjoyed seeing us work together as a team,” Dimas said. “We are here now as we have made it to the field, and now, we still have to prove ourselves to be the best officer we can be. Looking back at us in training is a surreal experience to see where we began to what we became."
Avila said that she grew up wanting to be a cop, and after a brief flirtation with being a veterinarian, she decided to apply for the department.
"It was nice seeing where we are now and reflecting on what we went through at the academy,” Avila said. “It’s amazing to see that we made it this far, and I am so honored to be here now.”
Dimas said that she is grateful to live in a city where they have a chief that doesn’t discriminate and allows different cultures to come into the department to make a difference.
“He cares more about the core values that we bring to the table,” Dimas said. "Diversity is essential in bringing different perspectives and cultures to serve the community.”
Episodes will be available on YouTube, with a new episode premiering each Thursday until its conclusion Nov. 16.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: APD's 100th Class immortalized with documentary
