LCSO August Employee of the Month

The Employee for the Month for August is certainly no stranger to receiving this prestigious award as he also received the Employee of the Month for February of this year.

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.

The specific character traits mentioned in this letter of recommendation certainly comes as no surprise to those within the Sheriff’s Office who work with Corporal Darrell Werner, but to also be recognized by an outside agency only reinforces what Werner exhibits on a daily basis to everyone he meets. Specifically mentioned is Werner’s willingness to help anyone at the jail facility and always with a smile on his face and a 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.

If anyone should look up the word “congeniality” in Webster’s Dictionary, you just might find Werner’s picture there.

A veteran law enforcement officer since his graduation from the Hardin/Jefferson County Police Academy in 1989 and with well over 2,200 hours of various law enforcement training classes under his belt places him in a well-deserved position to lead other deputies in his current assignment of day shift Patrol Division supervisor.

Not surprisingly, during the interview for this article and being true to his nature, Werner said he wished to emphasize the fact, although he appreciates this award, he 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. Werner said that in his personal opinion, it is truly Whitten, who is one of his shift deputies, who has gone above and beyond the line of duty to serve the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office and the public he swore to serve and protect even at the cost of his own safety and wellbeing.

So it could be said of this month’s recipient, and at the request of Cpl. Darrell Werner, that the Employee for the Month for August 2019 is actually Deputy Richard Whitten as honored and dedicated by the “host,” 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.