A 43 year-old North Texas father and his 23 year-old son are first in Texas to go through the Police Academy together. They're this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
Winston Edmundson, 43, always knew he loved to serve others. After a few failed campaigns running for mayor Lewisville, Winston still had a calling to serve. He'd spend a lot of time with the Lewisville Police during his last campaign, after which he pondered a career change. He'd mentioned to his son, Christian Edmundson, 23, that being cop would be a great job...and Christian listened.
"I got my degree in business and I had no intention of becoming a police officer," Christian said. "I hadn't quite figured out what I wanted to do. My dad recommended I become a police so I reached to a couple of the resource officers from Flower Mound High School and they gave a tour of the police station and talked to me what the job entailed and I thought, 'Wow! This really could be the place for me.'"
Soon, the two were going to the Police Academy together. The father/son duo would go to class together, study together and work on their physical fitness together.
"People would look us sometimes. Instructors would come in and see that we had the same last name and saw some similarities and say, 'Are you guys related? Are y'all cousins?'" Winston said laughing. "Eventually we would tell them and they would be shocked. This is the first time in the history of the Police Academy here in Texas that a father and son have completed the class together at the same time."
Both say going through the Police Academy together was one of the best experiences of their lives.
"It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. We could lean on each other and help each other and that made it such a meaningful experience," Winston said.
“It was one of the best experiences that we’ve had going through the academy together. We’d ride down together. We’d study on the way over there,” Christian said. “It was very surprising at first, but I loved every minute of it.”
Now Father and Son are making serving and protecting others a family affair.
Christian was hired as an officer at Flower Mound Police Department and Winston was hired as an officer at the Lake Dallas Police Department.
'We're both on patrol but what we experience day-to-day is very different," Winston said.
We're proud to call Winston Edmundson and Christian Edmundson this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
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