National Correctional Officers Week, observed May 5-11, 2024, was first proclaimed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It recognizes the significant contributions made to public safety by correctional officers, as well as personnel who work in jails, prisons, and community corrections across the nation.
President Reagan said, "No group of Americans has a more difficult or less publicly visible job than the brave men and women who work in our correctional facilities. The general public should fully appreciate correctional officials’ capable handling of the physical and emotional demands made upon them daily. Their profession requires careful and constant vigilance, and the threat of violence is always present."
The Grapevine Detention Center employs 11 detention officers who process an average of 35 arrestees per week. From booking, to transfer or release, incarceration requires care.
Detention officers are responsible for fingerprinting, searching, and photographing arrestees upon their arrival. They inventory property. They also provide food and laundry service. Care extends beyond the basics to dispensing prescription medications, administering first aid, and much more.
Rosalyn Hights and Giovanni Velez, detention officers with a combined estimated experience of 15 years at Grapevine Police Department, say meeting emotional demands by arrestees is a top priority.
Hights recalled an incoming phone call from an arrestee’s hospitalized mother. She was concerned for her son and was uncertain of his whereabouts. Hights confirmed he was at the facility. She then took time to connect with the arrestee, telling him, “You know you need to do better, you’re worrying your mom”. She said these interactions where she’s “able to get through to somebody” make the job worthwhile.
Velez said he actively works to calm arrestees. He explained, “I noticed that when people come here — sometimes they have done a minor infraction — but they think their whole world is going to collapse.” Forging that human connection and taking the time to explain the ticket they received and how the process works “brings them back down off that ledge”.
The Grapevine Police Department thanks the men and women, like Hights and Velez, who play such an important role in the criminal justice system.