Few police chiefs are selected to go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy. Gardendale Police Department Chief Michael Walker is one of those that was chosen for the honor.

Walker recently graduated from the academy in Quantico, Va., with a class of 257 other leading law enforcement officers after 10 weeks of specialized training.

Walker took classes about youth violence, leadership, evidence photography, stress management, forensic science and physical training.

“What I really hope for is this will open the door for supervisors in this department to come after me,” Walker said. “I tell our command staff all the time is that our goal should always be to prepare the next generation of officers and supervisors to take over when we leave, and to make the department even better than what it is today.”

Despite Walker’s words about others succeeding him, he has no plans to leave the police force anytime soon. He still stresses the importance of maintaining quality within the police department.

“We have to accept that we’re not going to be here forever,” he said. “What we want is to see that the organization continues to improve and excel even after we’re done. And to do that we have to, first of all, is identify those individuals in the department that want to be leaders and try to help them obtain the training and experience the greater need to take over.”

Walker said he has been able to apply some of his lessons to his work since graduating. He plans to implement more aspects of evidence photography in the police force.