The Rotary Club of Dallas and Safer Dallas Better Dallas honored a Dallas police officer and Dallas resident for their contribution to a safer Dallas at the organizations’ 13th annual Safer Dallas Awards program on March 23.
Executive Assistant Chief Lonzo Anderson received the Distinguished Service Award while Derrick Battle received the Public Safety Leader Award. Safer Dallas also received a $50,000 check, the proceeds from the 2021 Rotary Club of Dallas Charity Golf Tournament. Derrick Battie, a Dallas native and longtime community liaison, was honored by Safer Dallas with the Public Safety Leader Awards for his extensive work in the South Oak Cliff community for almost 20 years to bring a better quality of life for all residents. He has tirelessly served on numerous important boards and task forces, as well as ‘boots on the ground’ efforts to improve south Dallas. Additionally, because of his service in many public safety efforts, he was named one of the Dallas Morning News’s 2021 Unsung Heroes. The recipient of the Distinguished Service Award is nominated by Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia. This year’s award went to Executive Assistant Chief Lonzo Anderson for his hard work, dedication, tenacious attitude towards the law enforcement profession and unrelenting leadership style that he has displayed throughout his career. After listing Anderson’s many achievements, Chief Eddie Garcia expressed, “He exemplifies the qualities we all want to see in our police officers; drive, determination, integrity, honesty, perseverance, compassion, wisdom, generosity, intelligence and I will add loyalty.” As the keynote speaker, Chief Garcia highlighted the importance of community trust in reducing crime. He recognized the impact of the consistent support and participation of The Rotary Club of Dallas and Safer Dallas in many ongoing projects. During his remarks, Chief Garcia discussed the department’s focus on engaging public and private partnerships to weed out the criminal element while seeding resources, hope, and healing into neighborhoods. This practice has contributed to a reduction in violent crime; establishing Dallas as a leader in this area and on its way to its goal of being the safest large city in the US. Dallas Rotarians, Brent Holtz and Dana DeVance, presented a check to Safer Dallas for $51,000 to fund police community outreach programs and unmet needs of the Dallas Police. This was raised from the Rotary Club Charity Golf Tournament held each year Benefiting Safer Dallas organization. This year the tournament will be May 2. For details see: https://www.dallasrotarycharitygolf.org The mission of Safer Dallas Better Dallas is to protect residents from becoming victims of crime and to engage them in a partnership with the Dallas Police Department, to support the efforts of Dallas police officers, and to make Dallas America’s safest big city. For details see: https://saferdallas.com Rotary International is 1.2 million passionate individuals in 35,000+ clubs worldwide. We are both an international organization and a local community leader. Together we lead change in our own backyards and across the world. The Rotary Club of Dallas, the first club in Texas, has over 150 members serving our communities right here in Dallas. For details see: https://dallasrotary.org/