Police in the news have come to have a negative connotation many times nationally in recent years. That’s not the case in Columbia as several officers were honored during Tuesday night’s aldermen meeting.
Resident Brenda Idom described the actions of Sgt. Jason Cook, who was recently promoted to shift leader.
“I live right behind Jefferson Middle School,” she said. “I just happened to walk out in the morning and officer Cook was out there playing basketball with the children in P.E. class. It just lit my day. I was so excited to see him out there with the children. I know that if I could have gotten over there and asked them how they felt after he worked with them so hard or they worked with them, they would have told me. Afterward, he said they really wore him out. It really made my day. I’m just excited. I just wanted to tell officer Cook, ‘You made my day.’”
Idom said the memory of watching Cook interact with the children sticks with her.
“The more we can get to our children and let them know that we care and we love and we can be just as excited with them as they were with him, the better we will be,” she said.
The Board and crowd broke into applause as Cook, who was standing with Chief Michael Kelly, received a letter from Assistant Chief Rita Pickering and a hug from Idom.
“Since I’ve been here, I haven’t heard anything like this,” Pickering said. “What we want to do is start presenting them with letters.”
Pickering then spoke about two other commendations she was presenting, to officers Steven Palmer and Domonique Magee. While patrolling, Magee saw a woman with a flat tire and called Palmer to change it.
“She got back in her car and got ready to drive off and guess what? It wouldn’t start. The battery was dead,” Pickering said. “Officer Palmer came to the rescue again and had cables and jumped the car.
“I wanted you to hear some of the great things that are going on with our officers now. Anytime we have citizens come in and want to do this, we want to recognize the officers. We’ve had complaints come in, an that’s natural, but we’re trying to put a new face on here and it’s working. The chief is doing an exceptional job and we’re drawing lots of good people to work. It’s great to be a part of this.”
Mayor Justin McKenzie, a former CPD captain, thanked the officers.
“That’s what we’re here for,” he said. “As the city as a whole, we’re here to serve the community. Thank you, that’s what we need and expect out of all of our employees.”
Pictured Above: Brenda Idom saw CPD Sgt. Jason Cook playing basketball with students at Jefferson Middle School and was touched by the officer’s interaction with the children enough to tell the city board. | Photo by Mark Rogers
