A bittersweet night in Springfield for retiring police Chief Lynn Rowe.

He saw his last round of graduates get their badges.

The nine cadets from the 59th Police Academy and their families filled the praise Assembly Church on north Glenstone just a few hours ago.

Chief Rowe says he couldn't be more proud. "It's a special time for me. Obviously this is a great time in a law enforcement officer's career. It's been a joy for me to be involved in so many of these over the years. It'll be bittersweet, but I'm going to enjoy it never the less."

New cadet Kaylee Friend adds, "it's not going to be easy. We don't know what to expect because in police work, you never know what to expect."

Now the new officers will do 13 weeks of field training with veteran officers. After that, they'll be assigned to patrol duties.