Sheriff's Office Employees Of The Quarter Honored

Date Added: August 07, 2012 2:06 pm

Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

SHERIFF’S OFFICE EMPLOYEES OF THE QUARTER HONORED

Standard job descriptions are merely the starting point for the men and women of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office who earned the honor of being named Employees of the 2nd Quarter of 2012 Tuesday morning. Every one of them go far above and beyond what their jobs are supposed to entail, including a school resource deputy well known for her fair and nurturing interactions with students, an investigator who poured months of effort into a complicated and difficult case, and a receptionist always eager to take on more responsibility. Also getting awards from Sheriff Ben Johnson at the Deputy Stephen Saboda Training Center in Daytona Beach were a telecommunicator, and a volunteer.

Deputy of the quarter Karen Pierce is the school resource deputy at both Galaxy Middle School and Deltona High School. The principals of both schools praised Pierce as an effective, professional and truly caring law enforcement representative to all of the students. She’s always positive and uplifting and is frequently asked by teachers to talk to their students about character building and making the right choices. Pierce’s energy and proactive efforts made such an impact that she was honored as Volusia County’s School Resource Deputy of the Year for the 2011-12 school year.

“What an outstanding job,” said Sheriff Johnson as he presented the employee of the quarter award to Pierce. “You’ve done a super job all the way around.”

Investigator of the quarter Brian Cobb, who works out of the Sheriff’s Office’s DeLand District office, volunteered to take on a tough investigative project that required months to bring to fruition. In addition to his already demanding regular case load, he gathered substantial background information concerning illegal activities at two local scrap yard businesses that had been causing significant problems for multiple law enforcement agencies due to the owners’ refusal to comply with state statutes. Cobb obtained financial records, created organizational charts, did background checks on employees and conducted surveillance. Finally, he prepared a 22-page search warrant that in turn led to the arrest of two defendants for dealing in stolen property, grand theft and other charges. Additionally, Cobb’s diligence on a difficult to solve series of burglaries and vandalisms at churches successfully wrapped up with an arrest.

“Investigator Cobb is never looking for an excuse on why not to work a case but rather questions himself on how to solve the case,” said Cobb’s supervisor Sergeant Garey MacDowell.

Employee of the quarter Kathy Burnsed does much more than just manage the reception area duties at the Sheriff’s Office’s DeLand District office. Handling phone calls, visitors and paperwork is only the tip of the iceberg. Her desire to contribute even more led her to other tasks such as tracking pawned property to match it with items reported stolen and creating an informational database now used by the district’s investigators. Thousands of dollars in stolen property has been recovered due to Burnsed’s enthusiasm and dedication. She has also put together intelligence packets on suspects, created charts of areas experiencing recent crimes and helped assemble photo line ups.

“She is always asking for more to do and has become someone I lean on,” said supervisor Lieutenant Charlie Brown. “She goes above and beyond gladly to help whoever needs a hand.”

Assistant supervisor Denesha Miller earned the telecommunicator of the quarter honor for the positive impact she made when assigned to the Fire/EMS Communications Center. Her initial assignment was to help the employees there with answering law enforcement-related 911 calls. But she took on the extra task of learning about the radio channels used for fired department dispatch. Miller excelled at these new responsibilities and quickly became an integral member of the staff. She has been praised for having a professional and calming presence.

“I just can’t get over how each and every one of you step up to the plate when things get tough,” said Sheriff Johnson. “We thank you for all of your hard work.”

Volunteer of the quarter Bob Jeffery is an energetic member and vice president of the Citizen Observer Program. However, what sets him apart is his selfless contributions to the DeBary District office. For instance, an office assistant was out of the office for an entire week due to an emergency and Jeffery volunteered to fill in for the entire time, making sure that the office’s operation continued to run smoothly.

“Our volunteers are so important to us,” said Sheriff Johnson. “We couldn’t do it without you.”