Tucson Police Department Detective Faye Dietsch pins a badge on one of the 20 graduates of the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Center, her daughter, Christina Stephenson. Christina's grandmother, Lillian Stephenson, is at rear. Christina joins her mother and her stepfather, Officer Mike Dietsch, who have served for 16 and 14 years, respectively, on the force at TPD.

benjie sanders / arizona daily star

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When Christina Ann Stephenson joined the Tucson Police Department on Thursday, she became part of a police family — literally.

Stephenson's mother, Detective Faye Dietsch, has been with the department for 16 years while her stepfather, Mike Dietsch, has been on the force for 14. Dietsch works as a night detective while her husband is a motorcycle officer.

Pinning a badge on her daughter, Dietsch said she was proud of Stephenson, who graduated from the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Center with 19 others Thursday at the Tucson Convention Center's Leo Rich Theatre.

The event, attended by regional police and civic leaders, marked the end of a 16-week training program for recruits from several agencies, including the University of Arizona, Marana and Cochise County.

For Dietsch, the tradition of family members pinning a new badge on officers was a payback of sorts, as she had her daughter pin her years ago.

"I've been waiting to do that since I heard she was starting the academy," Dietsch said.

Dietsch said Stephenson's decision to join the force was a shock, as she had never heard her daughter voice interest in police work before.

But Stephenson said she had wanted to be a police officer since her youth.

"I heard a lot of stories around the dinner table," she said.

Those stories fed a curiosity about police work that was heightened when Dietsch let Stephenson accompany her on patrols.

Seeing her mother deal with the public and help others made Stephenson want to do the same when she got older, she said.

Stephenson, 28, said she chose to join Tucson police because of her family's history with the department.

Dietsch, who worked for a police department in Kansas for 10 years before coming to Tucson, praised the department for its tightknit community, calling it a family as well.

One of nine new Tucson police officers, Stephenson said she's looking forward to field training and learning more about the job.

"I want to learn everything I can," she said.

The rigors of the academy, which combines academic, physical and marksmanship training, prepared Stephenson well for the challenges ahead, Dietsch said.

With tears in her eyes, Dietsch struggled to describe the pride she had upon seeing her daughter graduate.

"I was bawling as she was entering the room," she said.

Stephenson's graduating class attained high marks throughout training, making it one of only three honors classes in the training center's history.