Family and friends gathered at the Corpus Christi Police Department headquarters to witness the graduation ceremony of the 52nd Citizen's Police Academy.
The 10-week program allows civilians to learn about the day-to-day routine of police officers, including the challenges they face.
"We did some scenario based training, we also looked at the dive team, we did bomb squad, we did so many things over the course of 10 weeks. It really needs to be longer because it was a lot of fun," said academy graduate Kimberley Ballenger.
After graduation, graduates can become part of the Citizens Police Academy Alumni, who do volunteer work for the police department.