Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy Lucero Castro is the department’s Employee of the Month for March 2019.
Castro completed the Liberty County Sheriff’s Police Academy in October 2017 but her abilities were recognized early and she was hired on with the sheriff’s office after having spent the prior seven years working in the county clerk’s office.
She presently is working toward her Intermediate certification by attending as many in-service classes as she can with her eventual goal to be an investigator with the sheriff’s office.
“Dep. Castro’s reasons for becoming a peace officer are not so different from what one hears from so many other career-centered law enforcement officers and that is a sincere desire to serve the public and to help people when and where they can,” said Capt. Ken DeFoor, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
“A case in point is the fact that only the day before being awarded this prestigious honor, Castro and fellow Deputy Chance Maddox, while on duty, were having lunch at a local restaurant when a waitress asked them if they knew anyone who had a bicycle for sale at a reasonable price or that may want to give a bicycle away. She went on to explain that she was having to walk to and from work each day because she did not have a car,” DeFoor explained.
Not knowing of a bicycle that was for sale, the waitress’s need so touched the hearts of both Castro and Maddox that when they left the restaurant, they went to Walmart and bought a new bicycle. They brought it back to the restaurant and gave it to her as a gift.
“It’s these kind of generous gestures that many law enforcement officers do on a daily basis that go unheard of but yet far exceed the more negative news items the public is bombarded with on the 6 o’clock evening news that tends to cast a shadow over these more positive aspects of law enforcement,” DeFoor said. “This personal drive of Castro to help where she can is probably why she says that much of her off-duty time is spent in a close family relationship and leaves little time for outside hobbies.”