Recent Southeast Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy (SEALETA) graduate Dan Brennan began his quest to become a law enforcement officer during his sophomore year in high school.
Although he didn’t know it at the time.
When he was very young, his mom had issues with drugs, and his parents divorced. His dad did not want to raise him, so his two sisters lived with his dad, and Dan went to live with his grandmother, who lived in Surprise, Arizona.
Dan acted out from the unsettled life he was living. He was suspended while in elementary school for fighting and talking back, and was on a path that would have kept police officers very busy. He craved discipline and direction.
Although he didn’t know that at the time either.
After enduring some rough middle school years, he attended Valley Vista High School and met up with Officer Chris Thomas of the Surprise Police Department, who was the school resource officer. As he described it, “Dan stalked me. He always was hanging out with me when he could, so I interacted with him frequently. I learned about his life story and knew that he needed some discipline and tough love to overcome his past.”
Dan seemed to know what he wanted to do. “He was driven and determined not to let the cards he was dealt in life dictate who he was to become,” says Officer Thomas. He became involved with the law enforcement program on campus, and he was one of several students that shaved his head to support Officer Thomas when his mom was diagnosed with cancer. Over time the relationship developed, and Dan became like a son to the Thomas family.
They became close. Officer Thomas began to look at Dan like a son, and was comfortable to scold him and to be hard on him to set him straight. “Still, there was something special between us,” Officer Thomas recalls. “I remember the first time he called me by my first name instead of Officer Thomas (or O.T.); I realized that this kid was growing up. Of course, I yelled at him for using my first name by asking him if he thought he was special.”
Dan graduated Valley Vista High in 2012, and joined the military and became Military Police. He gained valuable experience and left the military and looked up, Officer Thomas. He told him that he had been hired by a police department and would be starting training at the Cochise College police academy, also known as SEALETA, in Douglas, Arizona. Officer Thomas lamented, “Selfishly, I was a little disappointed because the agency he was hired by was not mine with the Surprise Police Department. But how could I not be proud of this! Of course, I didn’t let Dan know that. I believe my words to him were something along the lines of ‘don’t screw it up!'”
The Academy is a tough 680-hour, 17-week program, which develops training and skills necessary in criminal and traffic law, defensive tactics, firearms, physical fitness, and defensive driving. Students that complete the program also earn 30 Cochise College credits and become sworn law enforcement officers upon graduation.
Dan completed the training and contacted Officer Thomas to consider attending his Academy Graduation. “Of course I complained up a storm about the 4-hour drive from Phoenix, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. When I got to the graduation that day, Dan surprised me and asked me to pin his police badge on his uniform. The honor felt in doing such an act isn’t one I can put into words.”
To Officer Thomas, Dan will always be that goofy kid from high school, following him around like a lost puppy. However, the pride he felt in seeing this once goofy kid beat the odds and graduate from the police academy as a man is a pride he can only imagine a father would have for his son.
At Cochise College, we congratulate our SEALETA graduates and are grateful for the support provided to now Bisbee Police Officer Daniel Brennan by Officer Thomas of the Surprise Police Department.
