Law enforcement dispatchers have historically had the ability to recognize certain personality traits of “street officers” who, while under pressure on calls for service, can still maintain calmness and a positive response to any set of circumstances that might be facing them.
“So it was when Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy Danielle Barry was nominated by one of the sheriff’s dispatchers and later selected as this month’s Employee of the Month,” said Capt. Ken DeFoor, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
At the May general departmental meeting, Chief Deputy Don Neyland read off the attributes of Barry as being the type of deputy who always has a positive response regardless of what may come her way, personality traits she has both off and on duty.
“One somewhat interesting comment was that Barry is very straightforward with her comments leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the meaning of her remarks or statements. Barry, herself, will readily admit to this trait and says she has always felt it is best that people understand the truth and reality of a situation rather than having it ‘sugar-coated’ by telling them what they want to hear,” DeFoor said.
Barry’s family roots goes back a long way as her grandfather was a peace officer and her cousin is presently an officer in Chicago. Pulling from the experience of both family members, Barry said she wanted to experience what the world of law enforcement really was like, and that desire to know more is what guided her path into this career field.
Having graduated from the College of the Mainland Police Academy in Texas City in December of 2017, she quickly joined the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office in March of that same year and is presently assigned to the day-shift Patrol Division. With approximately 200 hours of various law enforcement related classes under her belt, her advancement to an Intermediate classification is well within her reach.
Being a single mom with two young sons also gives Barry a very special understanding and compassion for the youth involved in many of her calls, saying that some aspects of these calls hit close to home. Being outdoors and enjoying nature with her sons gives her insight into the lack of parental closeness she often sees on some calls involving children.
“Barry has not carved out a definite future goal in law enforcement as she says she loves what she is doing in the patrol division. So for the time being, she says she is just going to see where patrol leads her and make that decision later on in her career,” DeFoor said. “Her wishes now are to see the Sheriff’s Office grow in manpower to meet the pressing needs of an ever growing population within the county as she points out, just within the two years that she has been with the Sheriff’s Office she has seen the calls for service grow tremendously.”