Lafayette County sheriff's banquet honors deputies, dispatchers and community partners

A crowded year of patrol calls, jail work, school protection and dispatch traffic ended with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office recognizing the people who carried it.

At its annual year-end banquet on April 1, Sheriff Joey East and department leaders used the gathering to spotlight performance across the office, from deputies in the field to jail staff, dispatchers and special assignments. The list of honorees showed how much of the county’s public-safety load depends on more than patrol alone.

Sgt. Doug Allen was named Patrol Deputy of the Year, while Deputy Art Watts earned SRO of the Year for work in the schools. Sgt. Joe Quarles took two major honors, Investigator of the Year and SWAT Deputy of the Year, underscoring the dual pressure on the department to solve cases and stay ready for high-risk responses. Deputy Porter Rucker was recognized as Rookie of the Year, and Corrections Officer Mondrell Williams was named Jailer of the Year.

Dispatch, often the first point of contact in an emergency, also received prominent attention. Becky Barnett was named Dispatcher of the Year, and Celesia Dunn was recognized for special service in dispatch. The awards reflected the reality that public safety in Lafayette County depends on fast answers as much as it does on visible enforcement.

The department also highlighted teamwork with the Crime Stopper Case of the Year, which went to the Patrol B Shift and the Investigative Division. That recognition signaled that some of the office’s most important work comes from coordinated effort rather than a single headline-grabbing arrest.

Two deputies, Brian Vaughn and Colby Spruill, received a Life Saving Award, a reminder that training and split-second decisions can determine whether a call ends in tragedy or recovery. In a year the sheriff’s office described through a wide range of honors, that award stood out as the clearest measure of what the department is ultimately built to do.

Community partnership was part of the evening as well. Lena Wiley of Interfaith Compassion Ministries received the Special Community Service Award, tying the sheriff’s office’s work to the wider network of people and organizations that help meet needs in Lafayette County. Taken together, the honors painted a picture of an agency trying to reinforce morale, reward professionalism and show residents that public safety is being handled by a team working across every part of the operation.