An Officer and a Gentleman

I left behind a lot of good people when I retired, but I had my favorites.  One of my favorite officers was Willie W.  Officer W. was instrumental in the forming of a DR Squad (Discipinary Report) for inmates who committed a minor/first infraction of the rules.  They were given the opportunity to either go to confinement or participate in the DR Squad program.

Under Officer W.'s leadership, the inmates would march the compound calling cadence and maintaining strict discipline.  The squad would do special work on the compound and would sit in classes taught by Officer W.  Officer W. wrote the lesson plans.  He taught lessons covering everything from manning up and accepting responsibility for their actions to how to shave and bathe properly.  His feeling was that many of the inmates had not had a father figure in their life to teach them such things.  He kept them busy all day.  They would run and exercise and march.  You could hear them calling cadence in my office from down on the compound.  Statistics proved that of the hundreds of inmates who passed through Officer W.'s squad, less than five had ended up back in trouble.  Everyone who visited the institution wanted to meet Officer W. because they had heard about the work he was doing.

I admired Officer W. because he went the extra mile.  He believed that what he was doing would make a difference and he was right.  His day could have been a lot easier if he had been content to sit in a dorm and babysit, but he chose to go over and beyond what was required of an officer.

I had hoped to see Officer W. make sergeant before I retired, but he didn't.  About a month ago, I learned that he was going to be promoted.  I was able to attend and was very proud for him.  The downside of his promotion is that he will not be able to continue leading the DR Squad.  He will be placed on the night shift running a dorm.  That is such a waste of talent, but sometimes that is how things go.  I'm hoping that that might be rectified in the near future and that Sgt. W. will be able to resurme the work he started.  Somehow I lost the pictures I took at his pinning ceremony, but I had a couple of other pictures of him that I will share.  Congratulations Sgt. W.  You make us all proud.

This is a picture of Sgt. W. taken at my retirement luncheon.  This is the uniform he wore while working with the DR Squad.

And this is a picture (left) of him taken at a former warden's retirement celebration.