Former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire graduated from a Miami police academy Thursday. He will join Miami-Dade Schools Police.
MIAMI – Former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire graduated from a police academy in Miami on Thursday and will join the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, local station Local 10 reported. He was one of 18 recruits at a graduation ceremony at Miami Dade College, where graduates are headed to different agencies, including Hialeah and Miami Beach. Stoudemire must complete about four more months of training before he starts the job. The academy program runs about nine months and nearly 900 hours.
Stoudemire, 43, played for the Miami Heat in the 2015-16 season and was a six-time All-Star, spending most of his career with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks. He averaged 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds and earned more than $161 million, according to Fox News. Local 10 reported that he stressed he wanted no special treatment, and people at the academy told the station he wanted to be a regular recruit.
Stoudemire told Sports Illustrated that he first said he wanted to be a police officer in elementary school on career day. Law enforcement runs in his family: an uncle was a captain, a cousin is a captain and his sister is in the academy. He said his wife was concerned about the danger, but that good training and knowledge of policies and procedures help with officer safety. He said the academy required physical tests and reading thousands of pages of policy.
He said skills from basketball, including discipline, professionalism and communication, carry over to policing. He also said he hopes to work with young people and steer them in the right direction before they get into trouble.
This report draws on information from Local 10 News, Fox News (OutKick) and Sports Illustrated.