MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie Police Department received three new officers via two Colquitt County natives and one Miami native.

Jolicia Tabor and  Mark Walden of Colquitt County and Jimmy Catoni of Miami all said their oath front and center to the citizens of Moultrie in a Sept. 30 ceremony. The three officers said they’re excited finally get started.

“It feels pretty good,” Walden said.

They didn’t know each other going in — though two were from the same county — but said experiencing academy together forged a strong bond between them.

The trio spent four weeks in a pre-academy at the MPD and 11 weeks in the actual police academy. There, they did physical training and conditioning, firearm practice, driving practice and weekly tests on law.

They graduated on Friday, Sept. 27. It was a rigorous process to say the least. Mayor Bill McIntosh swore them in and commended their feat.

“I know it wasn’t easy sometimes, so congratulations on completing that,” he said. “We appreciate your interest in being part of the City of Moultrie and look forward to your long tenure of service with the city.”

But there’s one final bout of training to come. The new officers will take on two months of field training. They’ll be assigned a senior officer who shows them the ropes and the foundation of being in the field.

With an overall of 20 weeks of training, MPD Chief Sean Ladson said becoming a police officer is a demanding job; however, it’ll be worth it for both sides to see who comes out in the end.

“You hate for an individual to quit their career,” Ladson said. “But at the same time, we want to make sure we have the best individuals to not only pass our pre-academy but pass the actual academy.”

The MPD is “raising a bar” that Tabor, Catoni and Walden have hurdled over outstandingly, Ladson said.

“We like the individuals that we’re getting,” he said. “I think they’re going to do a really good job for the community.”

The trio of officers look forward to their future in law enforcement, but said they’re focusing on the present.

“A lot of us, I think, want to make it up to investigator level, but I think for right now we’re just focusing on what we got now,” Catoni said. “We all worked pretty hard to get here.”

Making a difference, serving the community and showing that there are good people — “good cops” — out there are what Catoni, Walden and Tabor’s goals are, respectively.

Ladson said it’s an exciting time at the police department with their arrival.

“It’s always interesting at the beginning,” he said. “You get excited to see how they’re going to progress, what niche they’re going to find, where they might end up in the next couple of years, [and] what their strengths are.”

To Ladson, these are three more officers that can get on the road, go on shifts and make the community feel safe, and that’s what it’s all about.