McMinnville Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy prompted the newest member to join the force.

“I had seen on Facebook the Citizens Police Academy was taking applications and I was very interested in learning more about how the police department served our community,” said Maggi Fann. “During that program I learned about building clearing and crime scene investigating. Shooting guns on the range. I realized during that program how much I love police work.”

That was in September 2019 and the timing couldn’t have been better.

“Conveniently, the police department was hiring at the time,” said Fann. “Det. Eddie Colwell was my instructor in the citizens program and his class inspired me to put in my resume for the position of patrolman.”

“I was working as a medical office secretary at a doctor’s office in Cookeville and I had been employed there for 10 years,” Fann said. “I love to help people but I always had a feeling I was meant to serve others more than I could at the front desk of a doctor’s office.”

Fann had three interviews at McMinnville Police Department between October and December of last year. Shortly after her last interview she answered a phone call that would change the trajectory of her life.

“I remember the phone call I got last December. It was Chief Bryan Denton asking me to come to the department to talk. I was offered the job and I was ecstatic!”

Fann wasted no time preparing for what was in store.

“I started prepping for the academy immediately by running and working out,” Fann said. “My husband Jordan gave me his full support by taking care of our 8-year-old son Talon and our house while I chased my dream at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy in Donelson.”

Fann lived at the academy Sunday through Thursday from July until September and spent 40 hours per week in class. Always a strong student, Fann had no problem with the academics but she had to push herself to conquer the obstacle course.

“You were required to complete it in under three minutes and that included dragging a 165-pound dummy 75 yards. I only weigh 100 pounds so the dummy weighed almost twice as much as me,” said Fann. “My first time was 4:37 so I knew I had a lot of work to do.”

Fann came up with an interesting way to motivate her to improve her time on the dummy drag.

“I’m short and small so it was hard for me to pick up and pull something with that much deadweight,” Fann recalled. “I tried to pretend it was another officer that was down and they relied on me to drag them to safety.”

Fann’s persistence paid off when she finished the obstacle course in 2:37 last Monday, a feat she says she couldn’t have pulled off without the help of another new member of the MPD and classmate at the police academy.

“I was blessed to be able to train at the academy with fellow officer Jay Hutchings. He helped me work on the obstacle course and study for all the tests,” said Fann.

Officer Maggi Fann grew up in McMinnville and is a 2007 graduate of WCHS.