National Police Week Starts Monday

We're really lucky here in the Lake Area, to have such great law enforcement. My respect for our local men and women in law enforcement goes way back to the way they all handled the situations in our area following Hurricane Rita.

National Police Week gets underway this coming Monday and all the local law enforcement agencies have events planned for the week. Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office will be hosting the traditional deputy inspections followed by an award ceremony.

Monday, May 15 kicks off National Police Week, which honors law enforcement officers who've lost their lives in the line of duty. To start off the week, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office continues a tradition by performing annual deputy inspections, followed by an award ceremony.

"We do this once a year to take pride in the work we do for the community," said Sheriff Tony Mancuso. "But also, to show them that we're paying attention, we want to make sure you look sharp and look good in representing this department."

Singled out for a special honor was Detective Derel Goss who is the CPSO's "Deputy of the Year." Goss will travel to Washington, D.C. in 2018 for National Police Week, for the law officers' memorial service that recognizes all of the fallen officers the year prior. 11 other awards were handed out as well. National Police Week recognizes officers who were killed in the line of duty. It's also a week to show our law enforcement community just how much we appreciate their hard work. A lot of the times, it's a thankless, dangerous job and the men and women who go out and serve the law more than deserve our gratitude.

Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to ride along with some cops to do a story on what their typical day is like. I hadn't been in the cruiser five minutes when we were called out to a stabbing, then there was an armed robbery, then we got called back out to the stabbing scene. I learned real fast that these folks are in danger every time they get a call. You wouldn't believe the daily life of a cop.

I was only an observer and it was shocking just how many times a day the average police officer puts his or her life in danger. Sure, there are moments of incredible boredom, but they can be interrupted in a matter of seconds with a call that could end up being deadly. the thing is, you never know which call that is going to be. it takes a very special breed of person to do the job.

Let's get together and show our appreciation for these great men and women.