RICK ALLEN GARRISON
1998
|
Rick Garrison says he won't rest on his
laurels after being named Trooper of the Year.
_________________________
By Michaela Gibson Morris
------------------
Daily Journal
TROOPER OF
THE YEAR
Randolph
resident Rick Garrison patrols Calhoun County in the Starkville District
The newest state Trooper of the Year
said he has no plans to sit back and bask in the glory of the award.
"I really can't do that," said
Trooper Rick A. Garrison, who has served 3 ½ years in the highway patrol. "I'm still what most people classify as
a rookie."
A
Garrison, 29, who also was chosen as the
trooper of the year for the Starkville district, was presented with the
statewide award in mid-June.
"It seems like such an honored
position." He said.
Garrison said the professionalism, pride
and quality of other troopers who've received the top award is evident.
Now that he's joined their ranks, he
wonders if "maybe someone's seeing that in me."
Enthusiasm
Garrison's enthusiasm for the highway
patrol shows through, his supervisors say.
"He's very conscientious and he
loves his job," said Master Sgt. Hays Stewart, Garrison's supervisor and a
Trooper of the Year winner himself.
"He's just doing a good job."
Keeping drunk drivers off the road and
drugs off the street are at the heart of Garrison's focus as a trooper.
"He carries a torch to get drunk
drivers off the road." Stewart said.
In 1997, Garrison made 142 DUI
arrests. Garrison also was recognized
for seizing the most cocaine and marijuana and making the most felony arrests
in the Starkville District in 1997.
As he transports drunk drivers to jail,
Garrison often wonders about what could have happened.
"I think about all the cars we're
meeting, (and wonder) would this person have made it past them," Garrison
said.
Although the scenes of fatal wrecks
caused by drunk driving are wrenching, the foundation of Garrison's crusade
against drunk driving comes from the families left behind.
"You go knock on a door to notify
the parents and tell them that their kids is not
coming home again," Garrison said.
"There's nothing as devastating as that."
Persistence pays off
Although he's a trooper of the year now,
Garrison had to be very persistent to get a shot at joining the highway patrol.
Garrison, who had no prior law
enforcement background, applied for the highway patrol twice before he was
accepted into the grueling ___ week program.
"It was something I always wanted
to do," he said.
Garrison patrolled Webster County before
being transferred to Calhoun County -- just a stone's throw from his Pontotoc
County hometown, where he lives with his wife Lori and their 2 ½-year-old daughter. His
parents,
Because he has worked at Action
Furniture and not in law enforcement before being a trooper, some people had to
adjust the hard way to Garrison's new career.
Garrison said he remembers having to
arrest several people he knew for drunk driving.
"It was tough for the first few
months," Garrison said. "One
day I'm building furniture, and locking folks up the next."
Garrison said his colleagues have been
very supportive and proud of his award.
Another longtime trooper that Garrison
once called a decorated veteran paid him a high compliment, he said.
"He told me I'm fast becoming a
decorated veteran," Garrison said.
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