CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va. – Family, friends and Campbell County law enforcement officials gathered at Rustburg High School Friday to recognize 40 people who, according to Sheriff Whit Clark, have gone out of their way for the community.
“Every single day they come to work to serve the citizens of Campbell County. The ones we’re honoring today were chosen for standing out,” said Clark.
One of them was Deputy Brian Davis, who retired from the department after seven years. Most of those years were spent as a school resource officer.
Davis started in Campbell County elementary schools following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.
He said after that mass shooting, protecting the lives of thousands of Campbell County students meant even more to him.
“It’s a heavy weight on you to have that many lives that are dependent on you; but I thought that my presence was something that would assure them, or reassure them, to make them feel more comfortable.”
Davis started in 1989 as a U.S. army policeman and later served the departments of Martinsville, Lynchburg, and Altavista.
He said it’s a career he’ll cherish forever.
“It was a job where I felt that I was able to give rather than just take from the community.”
Davis was just one 40 people being recognized for life-saving efforts, fighting crime, and other stand-out moment in the community.