SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Friday brought a law enforcement graduation ceremony in Sioux Falls with a class that reflects the wide variety of people in South Dakota’s biggest community. For graduate Kaeley Dixon, Friday’s ceremony for the group of 21 men and women from the state law enforcement academy brings a sense of fulfillment.
“It was awesome, very rewarding,” the 21-year-old Dixon said. “We’ve worked really hard to get here: very long journey. We still got a long ways to go. We’re not everything we want to be yet but we’re a lot of things that we wanted to be 16 weeks ago which is pretty cool.”
For her, the city’s size is motivation to serve in the Sioux Falls Police Department.
“We get to impact a lot of people,” Dixon said. “It’s the biggest department in the state, so we get to touch on a lot of lives, which I think is pretty cool.”
Chief of Police Jon Thum sees a changing tide in 2025.
“We’re seeing a resurgence in the field of law enforcement,” Thum said. “There was a period where young people, I think, decided that’s not a profession they want to get into, but we’re seeing people come back to this profession.”
And the Sioux Falls of 2025 is a diverse and growing metro area, and Friday’s graduates reflect it.
“Looking at this group, looking at the potential there, the diversity of background but also the diversity of age, the diversity of different professions that they’ve been in, like, it’s a really great group that’s got a great mixture that can serve our community really, really well,” Thum said.
Dixon, who grew up in Brookings, says she’s the youngest among the graduates and a 33-year-old is the most senior.
