Lens program focuses on safety message
September 9, 2015
Lawman believed everyone deserved a 2nd chance
September 9, 2015
It is a fine thing to recognize people for the work they do, and Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre has a fine way of doing this.
Every year he throws a banquet in honor of his employees, and uses the occasion to recognize men and women who, in various ways, exemplify his motto of doing “Whatever It Takes” to serve the public.
The annual pride dinner, held at the Harang Auditorium in Thibodaux, always begins with a stirring display by the sheriff’s honor guard. There are speeches, of course, and a lot of awards given out.
This year 40 people were honored, and not just cops, either.
The dinner has been held for 22 years in a row. The Lafourche Deputies Association sponsors it and does the heavy organizational lifting.
This year the breakdown was 33 employees, three civilians and four retirees getting special honor and recognition for everything from saving lives to providing, unsung and unseen, years upon years of service and dedication.
The watchwords for selection are “distinguished” and “commendable.”
This year, as in every year, one person stood out in such a way as to merit special recognition, which is granted through presentation of the Sheri ’s Star award.
Lt. Doug Foreman, supervisor of the Patrol Division’s Specialty Enforcement Section, got the star. He began working with the Sheriff’s Office in 1985 as a reserve deputy, and three years later came on board full time.
Capt. Chad Shelby, the Patrol Division’s commander, has described Foreman as the “quintessential public servant.”
The Sheriff’s Star was not the only award Foreman received. Shelby nominated him for a Distinguished Service Award as well.
When you talk with Webre about his deputies and about all this award business, he will tell you how all of his people, just about, are award-winners.
It’s nice to see people who get little or no recognition for the jobs they do receive the nod, some public acknowledgement that what they do is important and that they do it well.
Here locally, if you look at those who wear the uniform whether in Lafourche or Terrebonne, Thibodaux or Houma, Lockport or Grand Isle, it is easy to forget the degree of dedication, the giving up of self, and the sacrifices that are routinely made to meet their shared goal, which is to protect and to serve the public at large.
The protection and service they provide – all of them – has been on the minds of people a lot lately.
There has been a spate of incidents that have resulted in the taking of police lives.
This comes on the heel of massive protests nationally, calling attention to what happens when the cops don’t get it right, or when they do but the end result is something neither they nor anyone else anticipated.
In New York and Baltimore, Missouri and Texas, to name just a few places, situations where officers have taken lives moved to the forefront of consciousness.
But there have been other deaths too.
Law enforcement officers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, sometimes simply because they were wearing the badge. We have seen these targeted incidents before, at many times in many places, and they are distressing.
Negative public response to these incidents – including violence – has occurred.
What gets lost in the headline or sound bite translation, however, is an important message.
In the places where public reaction has been strongest, the troubles erupted less because of an individual officer’s acts of neglect or even animus, but because of something deeper.
The history of how a specific state, county or municipal government handles situations where a civilian life is lost, time and again, has proven to be crucial. Even when the police are determined to be legally correct – as in Missouri – the poor record of how
non-police officials deal with civilian complaints and related issues matters.
Far too often, good cops pay for society’s failure to properly supervise or hold accountable the few rotten apples.
Sometimes this takes the form of a grimace or a smirk, even unkind words.
Sometimes it is something far worse.
The policeman’s lot has never been a happy one.
But programs like Sheri Webre’s “Pride” celebration of officers, and the
examples of dedication from people like Lt. Doug Foreman make things just a little bit easier, and ensure that recognition of the good guys – of which there are so many in his department and others – go a long way toward laying a foundation for making sure we all know what a great job is being done out there.
