I always tell my kids, when you make a mess, clean it up. I am a firm believer in returning something in better condition than when you borrowed it. Have you ever loaned something to someone only to receive it back in horrible condition? As I enter the end of my career with LVMPD, I truly hope that my time with this agency has left a positive mark on someone.

When I joined the LVPPA Executive Board, I had a single goal in my mind: to impact the lives of our members by making this Association the best it has ever been. Whatever the job was — representing our members in internal investigations, showing up on the scene of an OIS or putting together fun events such as our Halloween haunted house — I worked toward that goal.

I am proud of the direction that we are heading in. From day one, our focus has been our members and creating an environment of trust and dedication. Policing has changed and will continue to evolve, and I hope that the people in charge begin to realize that we have a commodity that is necessary and irreplaceable. It is easy to sit up on a perch and bark out orders and attempt to believe that you are working for the greater good. Everything that is done today should be an effort to protect the men and women who put on a uniform, push a black and white, enter a module with 100 inmates or work through pain and injury. At the end of the day, people want to feel they are appreciated and to be treated like adults.

The one thing I will really miss is watching and conversing with new officers who are eager to perform and protect this community. I will miss guiding and advising them as their careers flourish and they ascend into positions of leadership. So hopefully I have left the LVPPA in better condition, and whoever is next up will enjoy and strive to ensure that our organization reaches new and better heights.