Tyrone Elementary School 5th grader Carlye Jones received a special kind of award last week. Hers was the winning entry in an essay contest that was featured at the District Attorneys 3rd Annual Law Enforcement Banquet held May 7 in Fayetteville.

Prior to announcing her name, District Attorney Scott Ballard read Carlye's essay to the audience of 500 officers, staff and families. In her essay entitled “Law Enforcement,” Carlye said:

“No one is guaranteed another day or even another breath. In the blink of an eye you or your loved one could be gone. But I thank and love the wonderful people in the Law Enforcement who know that and everyday they still risk their lives to save yours. They stick their hand in the fire so you won’t have to. There are no other ways to describe them besides caring, honest, courageous, brave and confident people.”

“Have you ever heard police cars’ roaring sirens fly past you? The police cars going by in a whirl of colors, it makes a soft breeze that seems to play in your hair for a while until it slowly but gently leaves. Then once the sirens are almost silent in the distance you wonder why police seem to be always chasing people day after day. It could be that they’re chasing someone who just robbed a bank or drove through a stop sign. Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘Why don’t they ever give anyone a break?’ Do you really think deep down in your mind that they have to be chasing a criminal instead of sitting home safely with their families? They don’t have to do anything. They want to. They want to keep you safe and let you be able to go to sleep at night and feel comfort. Innocent cops everyday die just like that. But why? Because they’re keeping you safe and they are doing what they know is what they were put on this Earth to do.”

“The Law Enforcement is called in to go to a house in a bad neighborhood. They don’t back down but with a hurried caution they go. They pull up and there is a mother sitting on her front porch holding a young child. As the cop approaches he notices bruises on the woman. She tells him what has happened and he searches the house to find only horrible sights. Now if a story like this was to happen to a cop every couple of months wouldn’t you think they’d give up and say ‘I’m done?’ Well I can almost promise you that they don’t just back down. But their courageous and brave personalities encourage them to keep going when they see things like this. They know the safer they make their town the less that this kind of stuff will happen. The brave parts in their personality come out when they’re going through a high speed chase or walking in to a criminal’s house to arrest them. Next time before you underestimate a cop I want you to think, ‘Would I be brave enough to do half of the things cops do every day?’”

“Stereotypes of cops are pretty silly, aren't they? They show them big and fat. They are always eating donuts and sitting in the office all day playing video games. Even sterotypes of firemen are silly sometimes. But when I watch shows with those silly stereotypes I just can’t help but wonder where they get them from. The people who came up with those stereotypes obviously didn’t have a brain or don’t know what the Law Enforcement does. Law Enforcement have to be fit and have to be able to run fast to catch any on-foot criminals. They have to be ready and alert in case of any emergency when they’re called on the job. They have to hold down three hundred pound men to get handcuffs on them. The Law Enforcement are probably some of the most aware and fit people. They have to jump high fences and push through bushes. They have to climb trees and a lot more. If you think about it the closest thing we get to a super hero is the Law Enforcement.”

“The Law Enforcement is one of America’s great things about it. They aren’t just any person they can find to take the job. They are people who are willing and want to take that risk so that when you take a risk and make a dangerous mistake they can help you. The bravest, toughest, and most courageous people are in the Law Enforcement. They are the people who will be treasured by God and by America’s people. If you think that Law Enforcement is for you, give it a shot and become one of America’s great super heroes. I would like to put this paper in memory of all of the loved ones who have died doing their great deed in the Law Enforcement. I also thank and treasure all the ones today who stand tall and strong and hope that they can live on and help many people in the future!”

Other entries in the contest included essay submissions by 5th graders from around the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Those included Jordan Barnett of Spring Hill Elementary, Hunter Ertz of Pike County Elementary, Jessica Fowler of Jackson Road Elementary, Lance Holden of Jordan Hill Elementary, Elizabeth Jowers of Peeples Elementary, Chandini Kannan of Tyrone Elementary, Parker Kleppinger of Spring Hill Elementary, Savannah Laux of Huddleston Elementary, Beto Marin, Jr. of Jordan Hill Elementary, Stephanie Okpala of North Fayette Elementary, Caroline Peck of Brooks Elementary, Stephanie Pitts of Jackson Road Elementary, Baylee Smith of Peeples Elementary, Dominque Stuckey of Upson Lee North Elementary, Rebecca Wanderman of Crabapple Lane Elementary, Denver Williams of Peachtree City Elementary, Nino Young of Oak Grove Elementary and, for the essay booklet’s cover design, Jenna Gay of Braelinn Elementary.

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