Overview
- O'Donnell is officially a trainee with the Asheville Police Department and is midway through North Carolina's Basic Law Enforcement Training.
- His class is slated for a mid-January state certification test, with a Jan. 30 graduation and a March swearing-in contingent on passing all requirements.
- A department spokesperson says he may be the agency’s oldest trainee on record, while noting the 150-year archive is incomplete.
- He describes demanding physical training that includes running parking garages plus sets of air squats, push-ups, and burpees.
- The longtime character actor, a former member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne, says service to the community motivated the shift after decades of playing law-enforcement roles on screen.