Deputies to D.C.

In May of 2009, personnel made the trip to Washington, D.C. for Police Week.  Unfortunately, this was a somber trip as the reason for it was the induction of Deputy David Gilstrap into the National Law Enforcement Memorial.  Our guys were so impressed at the way Tammy Gilstrap, Deputy Gilstrap’s widow and Sheriff Berry’s executive assistant, was treated by peace officers there to provide escorts that they decided they wanted to be part of this event in future years.

In 2010, three of our deputies -- Griffin Attaberry, Stephen Guest, and Shane Partain-- organized the Deputies to D.C. raffle.  The people of this area rallied to the cause and helped raise enough money to cover all of the expenses for the three deputies to make the trip.  While they did have some fun along the way, they worked hard as well providing escorts to the families of fallen peace officers.  They worked from dawn till dusk each day they were there.  In fact, they worked so hard that the escort coordinator called me to let me know how hard they had worked.  He told me that only four other agencies out of the hundreds represented were getting such a call.

For 2011, the people of this area rallied to the cause again and raised enough money to send the OCSO back to Police Week.  In fact, area residents exceeded the amount they raised in 2010.  This is notable considering not only the economic times but also that it comes on the heels of the tremendous outpouring of donations for Senior Police Officers Buddy Christian and Tony Howard of the Athens-Clarke County Police. 

Our guys were in place and had the honor of providing the very first escort of a family arriving in D.C.  They also provided an escort for the family of Chief Deputy Kevin “Heavy” Roberts of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.   Lt. Attaberry  represented the Walton County Sheriff’s Office in the ceremony to induct Detention Officer Mike Adcock into the Memorial, and our guys also participated in an escort of Wounded Warriors from the Pentagon. 

We thank everyone that participated in fund raising efforts to help achieve making this year’s mission a success.  We continue to be amazed at the way the citizens of Oconee County support and are actively partnered with their Sheriff’s Office.  It truly is an honor to be a part of this team, and the public’s support in general and for Deputies to D.C. show that Robert Peele’s Principles of Policing still holds true, especially his seventh principle:

“Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”