SALEM, Va. – Salem Police Department announced that Senior Police Officer Jared Bridges will be their 2024 Officer of the Year!
SPD cited Bridges’s work on saving a child from choking in January 2024.
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“When you get those calls where kids are involved, it gets your blood pumping because you never want to see anything bad happen to a child. I am pretty sure I passed the EMS crew on my way to the house.”
Senior Police Officer Jared Bridges
The child was only 19 months old, and Bridges says the child somehow swallowed a guitar pick, and after acting quickly, he got the toddler to cough up the pick that was stuck.
“I remember the child lying face down in the bed with his head sideways, but not crying, talking, or making a sound. I thought that was really weird, so I immediately picked him up and started applying light strokes to his back.”
Senior Police Officer Jared Bridges
Now, Bridges is not just a Senior Police Officer for SPD, but he’s also a member of the Emergency Response Team, and continues to assist younger officers in the Field Training Program.
SPD also showed how Bridges seeks to treat everyone around with love and respect, especially when they’re at their lowest.
“If I know a person is a drug user, I will engage them and ask them how they became homeless and what started them down the drug use path. I just try to get on their level and enhance communications by talking with them. Having a badge does not make me any better, so I never try to talk down to anyone.”
Senior Police Officer Jared Bridges
Bridges and his wife are now expecting their first child later this summer.