Cpl. Darrell Werner, the Employee for the Month for August 2019 for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, is certainly no stranger to receiving this award as he also received the Employee of the Month for February 2019.
Chief Deputy Don Neyland announced this selection at the Liberty County Sheriff’s monthly general staff meeting this week. However, what makes this most recent selection unique is the fact the recommendation came from an outside agency – namely the privately-run Liberty County Jail facility, The GEO Group, Inc.
According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, in the letter of recommendation, GEO mentioned Werner’s willingness to help anyone at the jail facility and always has a smile and ready handshake.
“Over and above this is his professional bearing to both fellow employees as well as the public. One could say that Werner’s personal and professional approach to his leadership abilities is a result of his years of training and assignments with one assignment being the Chief of Police with the Bartlett, Texas Police Department, as well as his own family upbringing that instilled within him a desire to serve the communities to the very best of his ability,” the press release states. “If anyone should look up the word ‘congeniality’ in Webster’s Dictionary, you just might find Cpl. Werner’s picture there.”
A veteran law enforcement officer since his graduation from the Hardin-Jefferson County Police Academy in 1989, with well over 2,200 hours of various law enforcement training classes, places him in a position to lead other deputies in his current assignment of day shift patrol division supervisor.
Cpl. Werner said he appreciates this award but wants to dedicate this month’s Employee of the Month not to himself but to fellow Deputy Richard Whitten who was shot and severely wounded recently in a gunfight during an attempt to arrest a murder suspect, the statement continues.
“So it could be said of this month’s recipient, and at the request of Cpl. Darrell Werner, … is actually Deputy Richard Whitten as honored and dedicated by … Cpl. Darrell Werner. It is our fervent hope that the public will join the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office in saluting and thanking each of these deserving men for their service to the community, the Sheriff’s Office and to their chosen career field of law enforcement,” the statement concludes.