Deputies Jared Charles & Andrew Bustin

Perry County Sheriff’s Office; Perry County, PA

Just before Christmas last year, in Perry County, PA, Deputies Jared Charles and Andrew Bustin were responding to a county dispatch for a fire at a nearby service station. They were the first rescuers to arrive on scene. Employees of the service garage informed them there were people living in the second-floor apartments in the burning building. Without hesitation or concern for their own well-being, Deputies Charles and Bustin attempted to gain entrance to the building, but were unable to do so because of heat and smoke. They then saw the residents exiting the building onto the roof through a second-story window. The deputies parked their vehicle underneath the roof where the family of five and their dog had huddled to escape the flames. As smoke billowed from the windows, Charles climbed atop the patrol vehicle and handed the family members and their pets off to Bustin on the ground. Charles then found the badly burned occupant of another apartment outside. She had jumped from her second story apartment window. Charles rendered first aid until medical personnel arrived.

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RISE Agency:

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office

St. John the Baptist Parish, LA
The duties of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office go beyond its core responsibility of law enforcement. Local senior citizens hold a special place within the hearts of officers here, so enhancing their lives is an agency priority. There are 6,500 seniors in St. John Parish, with nearly 2,000 being war veterans. To provide assistance to this population, Sheriff Tregre created Protect Our Precious Seniors (POPS). In its first year, about 20 seniors registered for the weekly welfare check-ins from officers. Over the last nine years, the program has grown tremendously to directly help about 200 seniors in need and provide additional services to nearly all the parish’s senior residents. During check-ins, officers visit seniors in their home to assess overall condition, bring a meal and to have meaningful conversations. “Officers never look for recognition or monetary reimbursement for what they spend to help our seniors,” Sheriff Tregre said. “Their payment is the satisfaction and the blessing received from helping someone in need. Serving our senior citizens is our way of showing support and appreciation for all they have done for our community. All we want to do is make our seniors feel safer, have less stress, and be more positive about their life.”

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RISE Community:

PACT- Police and Community Team

Cedar Hill, TX
The Cedar Hill PD Police and Community Team (PACT) was created to strengthen the relationship between the community and the police department. The PACT unit dedicates their time to creating programs that build relationships directly with community members. The unit delivers food to elderly individuals every Monday, regularly assists with food drives in the community, puts on CPAAA and COP courses that engage community members, and host an annual Youth Summit. The unit also runs the Drug Take Back program, offers free home safety inspections, Lunch with a COP, Crime Watch and Prevention classes, and child safety seat assistance. In effort to proactively reach out to community members who might not seek help, Chief Reyes developed the Neighborhood Walk. During Neighborhood Walks, leaders from the Cedar Hill City Council, Police Department and the Mayor’s office walk door to door in order to better connect with the community. The response from the community has been so overwhelmingly positive that the walks were changed from quarterly to every other month.

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As a reminder, the RISE Awards seeks to recognize the public safety heroes and community partners among us, in the following categories:

• The RISE Officer award honors three officers who have saved a life or shown exemplary performance in the field. 
  - 3 Officer winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to the Axon Accelerate conference in Phoenix, Arizona
• The RISE Agency award recognizes a department for making great strides in building up their community. 
  - 1 Agency winner will receive a $7,500 grant for their police foundation, police nonprofit or community program
• The RISE Community award honors a community program working hand in hand with law enforcement to benefit their local community.
  - 1 Community winner will receive a $7,500 grant for program funding