Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the recipients of the Sixth Annual Award Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing. Two HCSO deputies, Esteban Hernandez, and Tanya Garcia, made their fellow officers and the Greater Houston area proud for their work.
According to a press release from the Attorney General's Office explaining the awards, recipients are recognized for demonstrating active engagement with the community in one of three areas, criminal investigations, field operations, or innovations in community policing. Nearly 200 individual officers, deputies, and troopers were nominated from 49 states but only 19 from 15 jurisdictions across the country were selected.
"Every day, law enforcement officers across the country are asked to respond to some of the most difficult, most dangerous, and most traumatic moments that our communities face," Attorney General Garland said in the press statement. "Today’s awardees exemplify the very best of the noble profession of policing."