Law enforcement officers awarded by Optimist Club

On Thursday, June 3, The Warner Robins Noon Optimist Club held their first in-person meeting in over a year. Through the pandemic they met through Zoom, however due to lowered COVID-19 restrictions, The Optimist Club was able to hold their meeting at Ole Times Country Buffet. After a brief invocation and pledge of allegiance, the meeting began. Club President Rodney Mines led the meeting. The meeting focused heavily on recognizing each local Law Enforcement office’s Officer of the Year.

“It’s great to be here,” Mines said, “and it’s a great way to start it off with a respect for law officers.”

Centerville’s Lieutenant Ryan Powell was the first to be recognized.

“When the question ‘who would you put as Officer of the year?’” Centerville Police Chief Cedric Duncan remarked, “I immediately thought of Lieutenant Powell, because he and a coupe other guys took up the slack where the slack needed to be taken. He didn’t ask for anything, he jumped in and did it.” Duncan went on the say that Powell wasn’t the only one who did their part in this process, “but anytime anything needed to be done, he did it.”

When he came time for Powell to talk, he said, “I appreciate the kind words. I love what I do, I believe in what I do, and I believe that Centerville Police Department has a lot of good guys. With chief Duncan out here I believe we can go up.”

Warner Robins Police followed Centerville in the procession with Investigator Keenan Henderson being their nominee. Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner spoke with pride about his officer.

“Keenan came to us in 2014 starting in patrol, and at that point we saw that he was a driven officer. He has a nature for finding things, and he has a mind that’s data driven with names and dates of birth and knowing faces, which works out good in law enforcement.” Wagner spoke fondly of Keenan’s proficiency in his investigative duty’s, and for his proficiency on the kickball field.

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office took their turn next, with Corporal Doug Blackmon and Sergeant James “Bo” Spivey as their representatives.

“Doug Blackmon and Sergeant Spivey have been with the Sheriff’s Office for a long time, like a few of us, ” Captain Stokes said, “The reason we put Doug and Bo in for the Deputy of the Year this year, in late March we got a call to a hostage situation which the SWAT team, the SRT team did.” Stokes continued, “This one, the father had taken three children hostages. On the way to the call, he had released two of the children and kept one. A one-and-a-half-year-old. We attempted negotiations, he wouldn’t talk to us, wouldn’t come out. We couldn’t use gas or any other less lethal means because of the child; we didn’t want to injure the child. We tried everything we had available to us, and then the decision to make entry and rescue the child was made. When we made entry, Sergeant Spivey and Deputy Blackmon led the entry team in, and they were the first two to contact the father.” Spivey and Blackmon both worked to save the child from the father, who had locked himself inside a Master Bathroom. Largely due to Spivey and Blackmon’s actions and quick thinking, the child was saved without being harmed.

Finally, Sergeant Justin West represented Perry Police. Captain Heath Dykes of the Perry Police Department presented their nominee.

“Sergeant West has been with us for 14 years,” Dykes said, “I’ve been there for 28. Recently promoted to Sergeant in January 2021, he’s our K-9 supervisor. We have five K-9s that he supervisors on a regular basis and does an outstanding job with that. He’s the kind of guy that if you need something done you can call, and he always has been.”

The Optimist Club presented each officer with small tokens.

“I want to thank you personally for everything you do around here.” Mines added, “It’s great that ya’ll are out there keeping us safe and protected. From the bottom of our hearts here at the Optimist Club, this is one of the best programs we get to do all year, to recognize those that keep us safe.”

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