Ten new deputy sheriffs earned the distinction of becoming the first recruit class to graduate from the Department of Law Enforcement’s Training Services Division last week.

“It’s an honor to administer the oath of office to these new deputies,” said DLE Director Jordan Lowe in a release. “They earned their badges by spending six months developing their skills at the academy. Now they are ready to join the rest of the men and women in the department who work every day to make Hawaii safe for residents and visitors.”

The six-month training included over 1,000 hours of academic instruction and testing in constitutional and criminal law, ethical use of force, physical fitness, traffic enforcement, firearms and physical control tactics.

The new deputy sheriffs will now be paired with certified field training officers for 12 weeks to fine tune the skills they’ve learned.

The department assigns eight of the 10 deputy sheriffs to Oahu’s Airport Section, Harbors Section and Central Patrol Section. The department assigns the remaining two deputy sheriffs to the Maui Court Section.