MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Unlike some of the rookies who went through their first day at the Mobile Police Academy on Monday, Mairely Hernandez did not grow up dreaming of a law enforcement career.
The 24-year-old Mobile resident had her heart set on becoming a nurse – that is, until her financial aid ran out. That left Hernandez with student loan debt and a need to change direction.
“So my dad just jokingly said, like, ‘Oh, … you should be a police officer,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘I can’t be a police officer.’ But then I sat there, and I thought about it, and I was like, ‘Why can’t I be a police officer?’”…