The Brownwood Municipal Police Association (BMPA) hosted their annual awards gala Saturday night at the Brownwood Coliseum with association members in attendance along with Brownwood Police staff, retired staff, retired officers and sponsors.
Officers were honored for the job they do keeping citizens safe, even when it is not the most pleasant job and when they might not have the support from the public or their superiors after making the job required split-second decisions that often are a matter of life or death.
Guest Speaker Kevin Lawrence, Executive Director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, encouraged officers to continue to protect and to serve the citizens while believing in the job they are doing; keeping the peace in an otherwise chaotic world. He also challenged the officers to do more activities like this gala that allow time to get to know the “good citizens” that the officers don’t get to meet other than in bad situations.
Mitch Slaymaker, President of the Texas Municipal Police Association, also addressed the officers in a motivational speech encouraging them to remember the reasons they became officers, “for the warrior inside” that “does it for the love of duty, courage and honor.” He also reminded the officers to remember that “to do great work, you must love what you do” and that it takes a team working together to accomplish the mission.
The gala was opened with a bagpiper’s memorial with moving hymns to remember those officers who gave all and died in the line of duty.
Awards were given to outstanding officers and staff and were presented by BMPA President Fred Bastardo. Each award recipient was nominated by members of the BMPA and selected by an awards committee.
Officer of the Year was presented to Officer Jesse Mares (pictured at top).
Outstanding Civilian Employee was presented to Pat Wilson, Brownwood Police Administrative/Records division.
The Above and Beyond Spartan Award was presented to Officer Brandon Miller.