A Caddo Parish Auxiliary Sheriff’s Deputy who has donated more than 10,000 hours of service will be honored by Sheriff Steve Prator on Tuesday.
Richard Gates will receive the Sheriff’s Office Certificate of Appreciation during the department’s Leadership Team meeting at 8:30 a.m., June 23, at the Northwest Regional Re-entry Facility, 1121 Forum Drive.
Gates joined the Auxiliary Unit in May of 2008. Since then has worked more than 245 events. By donating his service, he has saved the Caddo Sheriff’s Office an estimated $250,000 in personnel costs, according to Sheriff Prator.
“I’m extremely grateful for Richard and all of our auxiliary deputies who give of their time to help our citizens and our Sheriff’s Office,” Prator said. “They are ready and willing to serve in all areas of the department whenever asked and have made a positive contribution in the community in many ways. I can’t thank them enough for what they do.”
Auxiliary deputies are citizen volunteers who supplement full-time Caddo sheriff’s deputies by serving with the Sheriff’s Office in a non-enforcement capacity. They are required to complete 72 hours of classroom instruction and 40 hours on patrol with a full-time deputy to participate in the program.
Gates joined the Auxiliary Unit after retiring from a corporate position and selling a small company. He was looking for a place to volunteer and be of benefit to others. “I felt this was where I could make a contribution and also fill my needs to stay active and pursue new goals,” he said.
Over the years he has helped out at numerous community events and festivals, worked with the Caddo Council on Aging, conducted welfare checks and motorist assists, fingerprinted children, performed traffic control, conducted more than 400 funeral escorts, responded to weather-related events, and assisted with events planned by Community Programs and Sheriff’s Safety Town.
Gates said he is most proud of helping initiate programs that directly benefit sheriff’s deputies and others such as assisting with funeral escorts, starting an Emergency Response Team with auxiliary deputies on 24-hour call, and two-man daily work teams which guarantee at least two auxiliary deputies are available for each patrol sector every day.
“The Sheriff’s Auxiliary Deputy Program has given me the opportunity to stay active and use my talents and energy for a good cause and one that I surely have enjoyed being a part of,” Gates said.
Also Tuesday, Sheriff Prator will recognize the following Sheriff’s employees for their years of service: Ardise Hicks Jr., John Mark Colvin, Betty Ruth Smith, John Childress, Candance Applewhite, Darryl Council, Clarissa Harris, and Andrea Scott, five years; Derrick Adger, April Bullock, Fernandez Graham, Irene Hayes, and LaTienda Pierre-Davis, 10 years; Jackie Lewis, 15 years; Vickie Johnson, Debbie Winter, and Mary Edwards, 20 years; and Diane C. Smith and Nathalie Woodard, 25 years.
