{"id":22568,"date":"2025-04-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-exceptional-service\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T11:00:00","slug":"our-view-exceptional-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-exceptional-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Our view: Exceptional service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A pat on the back always feels good to recipient and deliverer. When warranted, it\u2019s the right thing to do and should happen more often.<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations \u2013 this is a pat on the back \u2013 to the Montezuma County sheriff\u2019s officers and staff members who were singled out for their exceptional law enforcement work in an April 7 ceremony. Sheriff Steve Nowlin presented the awards.<\/p>\n<p>Nowlin spoke of the codes of ethics and conduct that all \u2013 peace officers, administrative and other staff members \u2013 must adhere to around keeping the peace, safeguarding lives and property, and protecting the innocent. It takes everyone in the department to serve the public and ensure their trust, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nowlin recognized 10 people (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-journal.com\/articles\/montezuma-county-sheriffs-office-honors-10-employees-at-annual-awards-ceremony\/\" id=\"link-4810e685feaaca08b3e46d1695d052bc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em id=\"emphasis-5a2a2bda99bf154e01d98264f659d4bb\">Journal<\/em><\/a>, Apr. 16). A \u201cLife Saving Award\u201d went to Deputy <\/p>\n<p><strong>Rebecca Lambert<\/strong> for recognizing that a veteran needed critical assistance during a welfare check, and a \u201cDistinguished Service Award\u201d to Agriculture Deputy <\/p>\n<p><strong>Michael Marston<\/strong> Jr. for calming an aggressive dog that was protecting his owner who had committed suicide.<\/p>\n<p>Meritorious Service Awards went to Sgt. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Bryan Hill <\/strong>and Deputy <\/p>\n<p><strong>Cayden Worcester <\/strong>who, on a welfare check, shot and killed an armed man who refused to lower his weapon.<\/p>\n<p>Letters of Commendation were earned by Records Section Manager <\/p>\n<p><strong>Heather Mann<\/strong>, Records Section Assistant <\/p>\n<p><strong>Taylor Hill<\/strong>, Administration Assistant <\/p>\n<p><strong>Samantha Shaffer<\/strong>, Civil Process Deputy <\/p>\n<p><strong>Kenneth Geiger <\/strong>and Administration Division Supervisor K<\/p>\n<p><strong>endall Allen,<\/strong> each described as having one or more \u2013 high performance, attitude, quick learning and\/or organizational qualities \u2013 all assets to the department and community.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"naviga-section-header\">Deputy<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Kyler Rogers<\/strong> received the \u201cTop DUI Arrest Deputy\u201d for 2024, having identified seven intoxicated drivers.<\/p>\n<p>High performing law enforcement officers and staff members make a community that much safer. It is fortunate that Montezuma County has them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pat on the back always feels good to recipient and deliverer. When warranted, it\u2019s the right thing to do and should happen more often. Congratulations \u2013 this is a pat on the back \u2013 to the Montezuma County sheriff\u2019s officers and staff members who were singled out for their exceptional law enforcement work in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22568"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}