Honoring ‘the Best of the Best’

The 22 Orange County sheriff’s deputies honored recently for their bravery and quick thinking are a reminder to the community of the selfless service performed every minute of every day by law enforcement officers throughout Orange County.

The honors bestowed by Sheriff Michael S. Carona ranged from the Purple Heart medal given posthumously to Deputy Steven Parsons, who died after being struck by a car that ran a red light, to a Medal of Valor given to Deputy Guy Pepe, who shot and killed a fleeing felon who lay in wait and attacked the deputy with a hunting knife.

Underscoring that law enforcement work is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job is the Medal of Courage earned by Deputy Claudio Fabris, who, while off duty, stopped to pull a man to safety from his burning overturned truck.

Of special satisfaction to the recipients was that their actions were singled out for recognition by their 3,800 fellow employees at the Sheriff’s Department.

Others honored included three investigators who cracked five unsolved murders and a group of deputies who prevented a sex offender from making a jailhouse escape.

Law enforcement officers often are vilified for such things as issuing speeding tickets. And they must bear public criticism and carry the shame of the few who violate and dishonor their oaths to serve and protect.

Deputies like Pepe, Parsons and Fabris bring back into focus the constant risks that law enforcement officers face in protecting the public and the fact that their lives are on the line each day they don their badges.

As Carona so aptly put it, the medal winners are “the best of the best.”