National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame Embraces ‘Officer of the Year’ Nominees – Law Officer

By Stephen Owsinski

Of the 850,000 or so law enforcement officers serving a U.S. population of approximately 330 million in an anti-police climate rife with hatred and vile behavior toward cops, it would seem nearly impossible to nominate a small cadre of cops for outstanding police work…but the National Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame must do just that, with selected officers honored during their annual presentation in March 2024.

Per the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame (NLEOHOF) website, they are accepting sponsorships and nominations, and will honor chosen officers on March 22, 2024, at the Omni Hotel in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The mission of the Hall of Fame is as follows:

“The National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame was created in 2017 to honor Law Enforcement Officers. The purpose is to recognize those officers who have gone above and beyond in one way or another in the line of duty.

“The Hall of Fame judge’s panel will be looking for those stories that show how the officer has gone out of their way to make a difference in their job and their community. Any person nominated for induction into the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame can be an active, retired, or deceased law enforcement officer. There will be several honorees inducted into the Hall of Fame each year.

“The Hall of Fame looks forward to honoring LEOs each and every year, although most say they don’t do the job for the recognition, we feel their stories need to be heard.”

Speaking of being heard, the NLEOHOF has had the honor of fantastic speakers, especially those who know the nuances of law enforcement via first-hand experiences.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb (Photo courtesy of the NLEOHOF)

Since its inception in 2017, the NLEOHOF has inducted quite an array of skilled law enforcement officials whose achievements are nothing shy of extraordinary, for which each was respectively awarded in various categories relevant to stellar public safety feats. A list of inductees through the years, and the category they each clinched, can be viewed here.

How are Officer of the Year (OOTY) nominees selected?

The NLEOHOF has formed an “anonymous Inductee Selection Board” whose responsibility is to sift through each submission and gauge the features for which they were nominated for Officer of the Year.

Traditionally, America’s law enforcement agencies hold their own (in-house) nomination processes for Officer of the Year, Police Civilian of the Year, and Citizen of the Year (community members who demonstrated a feat aiding a sworn officer during their duty, such as helping to apprehend a suspect or solving a case).

Police departments and sheriff’s office staff are encouraged to submit nominations along with supportive narratives explaining why they think the identified LEO deserves the agency award. From my experience, these affairs occur behind the scenes, formally, with confidentiality, culminating in the chosen cohort being officially informed during the lead-up to an awards ceremony. The selected sworn officer dresses in class-A uniform and has their loved ones envelop them at a guest-of-honor table.

It is quite a spectacular event where blue is the day’s color.

(Photo courtesy of the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame.)

Some agencies hold their OOTY awards ceremonies at Police HQ. Others have a formal event at a ballroom in a local hotel or resort.

My department joins other regional law enforcement organizations, the selected nominees all gathering together to celebrate at a convention center seating tens of thousands, also showcasing an impressive array of mobile police vehicles and memorabilia for guests to fixate on.

The NLEOHOF, though, pre-determines where their annual awards event will transpire, much like political action committees do for the lead-up to politico nominees.

The cool thing about most law enforcement agencies’ processes for nominations is open to members of the general public. Local news outlets put it out there for citizens to be aware and participate if they so choose.

The NLEOHOF folks also open up nominations to citizens in their respective locales, so if a merchant or neighbor or civic organization was duly impressed with a particular police officer’s or deputy’s performance, one they deem is “above and beyond,” they can officially attest gratitude and make it known by submitting a formal declaration narrating the pinnacle police work and the sworn official who exceeded expectations.

For the 2024 LEO Hall of Fame, “Any individual is welcome to nominate an officer of any rank, sworn or non-sworn, or law enforcement supporter from any U.S. law enforcement agency or state.”

It is not just awards, though. Given the disgusting ongoing censorship by legacy media against law enforcement entities and their staff talking about police work and heroes doing The Job, a growing number of police-supporting podcasts have interviewed and broadcast the sentiments of public safety officials.

For example, supporters from The Complete Solutions Group podcast interviewed NLEOHOF co-founder Adam Davenport, praising him and his organization for putting on an impressive event in honor of cops who went above and beyond, illustrating stellar performance in a noble profession and commemorating cops who innovated through the degrees of darkness in society.

(Photo courtesy of the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame.) 

Do not forget: You, too, can nominate a law enforcement officer or civilian police employee for consideration toward receiving Officer of the Year honors.

I also learned that the NLEOHOF has added K9s to the mix of Officer of the Year recipients. It has always been the case, especially lately, that police canines deliver some solid work and robust numbers of apprehensions made possible by their super sniffers, command presence, loyalty to law enforcement objectives, and public safety PR.

“Overall, a law enforcement K9 award should celebrate the exceptional skills, accomplishments, and contributions of these highly trained and dedicated canine officers within the law enforcement community,” an NLEOHOF bulletin declared.

In closing, there is one more aspect I wish to highlight. Mr. Davenport harped on “how close” cops are and how much of “a tight-knit community, the LEO community is.” Hear-hear!

In that context, we really ought to craft about 850,000 awards and ensure every courageous soul choosing to don a justice badge and swear self-sacrifice is honored. But, hey, not every cop in America can attend an OOTY awards ceremony simultaneously; the streets are already too wild to blink and miss a beat.

This article originally appeared at the National Police Association and was reprinted with permission.