By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of the Emery County Sheriff’s Office

An exciting year for the Emery County Sheriff’s Office continued, as earlier in the week, the Office celebrated the graduation of Deputy Ian Tadehara from the Fred House Corrections Academy.

Not only did Tadehara graduate from the program, but he also did so with top academic honors, graduating first in his class, which consisted of 30 total officers.

Named after Fred House, a corrections officer who was killed on duty, the academy serves a mission to “establish and maintain a foundation of professionalism and education for correctional staff throughout the State of Utah.”

State law requires that an individual be certified as both a special function officer and a basic corrections officer to work in a jail or prison. Deputy Tadehara became certified for these positions through his work at the academy.

As a part of the graduation ceremony, graduates heard from keynote speaker Sergeant William Luke of the Utah Department of Corrections. Luke emphasized the importance of the role of a correctional officer, sharing that “people we deal with are someone’s loved ones who are going through a rough time.”

In a social media post, Emery County Sheriff Tyson Huntington stated,” Please join me in congratulating Ian for a job well done and for earning the academic excellence award. Ian, you put in the work and made us proud!”