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| Sign on wall at Awards Dinner. |
The dinner was held at the Alexander First Baptist Church Hall. Catering the event was Jordan’s BBQ.
First up was Police Chief Robert Burnett who decided to make up for 2021 by presenting two Officer of the Year awards. Burnett explained that he put the task of deciding who would receive the awards to the line officers.
“It’s hard to give these awards out because everyone of them (officers) does an amazing job,” Burnett said. “I look at people who have not had a disciplinary action, people who have not been called to question as far as complaints, write ups anything like that. People that go out of their way to do the most for the city.”
Chief Burnett referenced a tragic incident which occurred June 3, 2020 at around 7:12 PM on Evergreen Drive. That’s when Alexander Police Officer Scott Hutton, 36, of Bryant was shot by fellow Alexander Police Officer Calvin Nicholas “Nick” Salyers, 33. Hutton drove to Evergreen Drive to pick up a patrol vehicle from Salyers for his shift. Hutton was transported to a Little Rock hospital where physicians pronounced him dead.
The incident was investigated by Arkansas State Police. According to the final report, prior to arriving at 7:12 PM Hutton made two attempts by phone to alert Salyers he was on his way. Salyers never responded. Hutton parked in the driveway, walked onto the porch and knocked on the front door. Inside Salyers, and his girl friend Ashlee Cummings, were laying on the couch watching a movie. When hearing the knocking Salyers said he went to the door carrying his Glock .40 caliber handgun.
“[H]e looked through the peep hole and saw a figure standing on his porch with a dark shirt and a gun on his hip,” according to the report. “Salyers stated that he transferred his weapon from his right hand to his left hand and reached for the door knob and as he opened the door, the gun went off, firing a round through the front door.”
Salyers was tried on a manslaughter charge in a Saline County Circuit Court in November, 2021. The jury found him guilty on the lesser charge of negligent homicide. He was sentenced in December, 2021 to one year in the Saline County Detention Center and fined $2,500.00.
Burnett said the incident created several issues the department had never dealt with.
“Certain people took on extra responsibility,” Burnett said. “Certain people had to do extra things to try to kill the pain, to try to help the wife and grieving mother.”
“We had to figure out what we’ve never done before,” he continued. “How to get Scott’s name on the (Memorial) wall in D.C. and Arkansas. Jessie filled out the paper work, (established) a GoFundMe page that raised $15,000.00, arranged for the trip to D.C,” for the presentation at the Police Memorial Wall.
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Lieutenant Jessica Burnett Officer of the Year 2020~ 2021 |
On the plaque is inscribed “Officer of the Year Award, Awarded to Lieutenant Jessica Burnett, Presented by Chief Robert Burnett 2020 ~ 2021, For Outstanding Dedication & Service to the City of Alexander.”
Burnett then went on to recognize the department’s Officer of the Year for 2022.
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| Detective Brandon Huckaba (L) Officer of the Year 2022 |
I said, I look for an officer who has succeeded in everything I assign.”
Burnett noted one of his most recent assignments was being appointed to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). This now gives Alexander two CID officers. The other being Lieutenant Jessica Burnett.
Detective Brandon Huckaba was recognized as Officer of the Year for 2022.
Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway presented two awards. The first was to Tripp Mathew who was selected Firefighter of the Year. Unfortunately, he could not be present due to his son graduating from Navy Basic Training.
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| Firefighter Kevin Tapp (L) Chief's Award 2022 |
“He stuck with us the whole time,” Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway said of Tapp. “He’s the only volunteer we’ve got left.”
The final award of the evening was for Employee of the Year. Mayor Mitchell explained his criteria for selecting that one individual out of all the departments who should be selected Employee of the Year.
“Which one (employee) I think has benefited the taxpayers the most in saving money, and what they do in the day-to-day” (contact with people), Mitchell said. “I made a decision on who, that I wanted as the 2022 Employee of the Year. And, that award goes to Lieutenant Jessica,” (Burnett).
“The reason for this,” Mitchell continued. “The police department got new systems in all the police cars. There are now laptops in every one. She worked on the grants. And, it’s no cost to us, other than we had to put the money up first. She’s worked real hard to get that money back to us.”
Besides all that Mitchell noted, “Her day-to-day duties is (as) the Chief Criminal Investigator for the City of Alexander.”
“We solve more cases now than this city ever has,” he continued. “We use to just go out and make a report. And, that’s the last anybody or any business would ever see of anybody from this department. That doesn’t happen any more. So, she deserves it.”
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Mayor Paul Mitchell presents Lieutenant Jessica Burnett with Employee of the Year 2022 Award |
In June of 2019 Detective Burnett, then Hill, was recognized for ending what was described as a, “string of burglaries and vehicle break-ins.” But, not just in Alexander. The article can be found by clicking this link.
http://thealexandrian2013.blogspot.com/2019/06/alexander-detective-ends-reign-of.html
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