JRTC, Fort Polk honors blue line brethren at annual breakfast

Photo By Patricia Dubiel | Fort Polk military police officers line each side of the walkway heading to the Warrior Center May 15 to shake hands with visiting off-post law enforcement personnel as part of the second annual JRTC and Fort Polk National Police Week Law Enforcement Breakfast.  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

05.17.2019

Story by Patricia Dubiel 

Fort Johnson Public Affairs Office

Much of the holiday centers on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., whose walls feature the names of more than 21,183 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty — 106 of those died in 2018. Tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington annually to participate in a number of planned events to honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Here at the Home of Heroes, the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk played host to several off-post police agencies during its second annual National Police Week Law Enforcement Breakfast May 15 at the Warrior Community Center.
Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank, commanding general, JRTC and Fort Polk, said the breakfast served as a backdrop to “share a little friendship, partnership and teamwork with law enforcement officers from our local municipalities. We greatly appreciate what you do for us every day. You do an unbelievable job on a day-in-day-out basis, and you don’t get a lot of credit for it.”
Frank said that while the jobs of Soldiers and police officers share similar risks and goals, police are seldom recognized for their efforts.
“When our Soldiers come back from (deployment) we have welcome home ceremonies for them here at Fort Polk all the time. There are huge crowds, it gets (featured) on TV and in headlines, but you don’t necessarily see that for law enforcement,” he said. “Your officers are out there on a daily basis, doing much the same thing our Soldiers do overseas, but you don’t get the credit you deserve for what you do, especially for our Soldiers and their Family members.”
Soldiers can focus on their mission because they know the local police will help look after their families back home, said Frank, reading off some examples of how off-post law enforcement assisted Soldiers in their time of need.
“Here is one example from a noncommissioned officer in 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, that says ‘I was recently out in the box at JRTC when a city police officer escorted my spouse’s ambulance from my house to the hospital. It turned out well as my spouse was alright, but knowing that the local authorities cared enough to escort the ambulance gave me great confidence while I was separated from my Family,’” said Frank. “Here’s one from the spouse of a Soldier: ‘We greatly appreciate the way the police patrol through our neighborhoods. Their presence gives our kids and neighbors confidence in the safety of our area.’”
Paul Cryer, Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections district manager for probation and parole in Vernon and Beauregard parishes, said his agency has a good relationship with installation law enforcement.
“We have Soldiers that have, unfortunately, gotten into trouble out of the state of Louisiana, and we supervise their return here,” said Cryer. “We’ve also had some investigations in the past that involved Soldiers and worked with the (Criminal Investigation Division) and (Directorate of Emergency Services) police. We interact with them quite a lot. We’ve always had a good working relationship with Fort Polk.”
Capt. Mike George, Fort Polk investigations chief, said he has worked with many off-post agencies in cases of Soldiers that were absent without leave, confinements, investigations, courts martial, civil papers and serving warrants.
“We have a very good relationship with off-post law enforcement agencies,” he said. “We deal a lot with Vernon Parish and Beauregard Parish, state probation, and all local jurisdictions like Deridder, Leesville, Anacoco and Many.”
Beth Westlake, deputy chief of the Leesville Police Department, said Leesville and Fort Polk law enforcement have had a long, strong relationship of working and even training together. “We help each other all the time. Our relationship is important because they deal with some of our civilians and we deal with military people, so it’s great to have this kind of partnership,” she said. “I’ve been at the department for 22 years and we’ve always worked well with Fort Polk and I see that continuing in the future.”
Another visiting law enforcement official, Capt. Marty Fletcher of the Pineville Police Department, said the missions of local and military law enforcement are essentially the same. “We are both here to protect and serve, we just do it in a difference capacity,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what part of the country you’re in, all law enforcement are friends. There’s an automatic connection between all of us who serve, and we have the same calling to do this kind of work.”
Frank said the Department of Defense released a message to all installations, buildings, grounds and Navy vessels around the world, to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff on May 15 in acknowledgement of the service and sacrifices law enforcement make each day for their fellow Americans.

• Date Taken: 05.17.2019
• Date Posted: 05.17.2019 14:43
• Story ID: 322817
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US