The Brownwood Area and Early Chambers of Commerce hosted the annual law enforcement appreciation luncheon on Friday, May 15th at the Coggin Avenue Baptist Church Connection Center. Each law enforcement official present enjoyed a free catfish and chicken lunch courtesy of several local businesses.
Guest speaker, Kim Vickers, Executive Director for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, encouraged officers in their role as guardians of the community, which he stated is a noble career. Vickers stated that police play an ever changing, dynamic and expanding role in today’s society. Although nothing in life is static, he reminded officers that there are four things in law enforcement that should never change, pride in their profession, doing the right thing, helping others and keeping ethics strong.Several law enforcement agencies were recognized during the event and some of those agencies presented department awards.
Brownwood ISD also presented a special award to resource officer Fred Bastardo. Eric Evans, BISD trustee, said that all BISD schools had participated in a mock lockdown drill this past week.
“A couple of weeks ago, we had one that wasn’t planned, wasn’t intended but had to take place and the intermediate school and Coggin Elementary got locked down,” said Evans. “when that took place, kids were scared, they were under tables, they didn’t know what was going on, teachers didn’t know what was going on but they know that something has happened that they needed to be in that position right then. Kids were crying inside the room and some were encouraging others. We hear these kind of stories, but then we had one specifically say, ‘when we saw officer Bastardo come through, when we saw him coming in, we knew everything was okay.’ When you hear stories like that, you know that someone has gone above and beyond. Their willingness to make relationships with kids and when those kids see them, they have security and a sense of appreciation for what that someone does and who they are.”
Michael Cloy, BISD Board of Trustee President stated, “It is unfortunate that we have to have policemen on school campuses, but it makes us feel good that these are the kind of men we have available to us at Brownwood ISD. We have had a great relationship with the Brownwood Police Department.”
Bastardo started his position as resource officer at Brownwood ISD approximately 5 years ago. He is pictured above being presented a certificate of appreciation by sixth graders John Monson and Haley Jones along with Brownwood Intermediate School Principal Charles Chesser (center) and Michael Cloy (left).
Bangs Police Chief Jorge Camarillo made a presentation to Officer Mike Isbell, noting his recently earned Master Peace Officer Certification (pictured below).
Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs presented five awards of appreciation to BCSO deputies. Pictured below are BCSO Chief Deputy Bobby Duvall, Captain Vance Hill, Jim Cornelius, James Stroope, Carlisle Gover, and Robert Ramirez.
