The Commonwealth of Virginia graduated its 125th generation of Virginia State Troopers on Friday, March 10. The graduates included Tyler Eli Knight of Stuart, who will be assigned to Caroline County.

The 49 new troopers were presented their diplomas during commencement exercises at the State Police Training Academy.

The new troopers have received more than 1,600 hours of classroom and field instruction in more than 100 different subjects, including defensive tactics, crime scene investigation, ethics and leadership, survival Spanish, police professionalism, firearms, judicial procedures, officer survival, cultural diversity and crisis management. Members of the 125th Basic Session began their 29 weeks of academic, physical and practical training at the Academy August 25, 2016.

Upon graduation, the new troopers will report to their individual duty assignments across Virginia beginning March 13 for their final phase of training. Each trooper will spend an additional six weeks paired up with a field training officer learning his or her new patrol area.