First Responder: Det. Jared Roberson
A first class First Responder goes above and beyond the call of duty every day. Whether aiding the elderly, giving the needy the shirt off his back, or feeding the hungry with his own food, Detective Jared Roberson truly embodies what it means to be a First Responder.
Roberson was named the First Responder of the Month of May. He was nominated after pictures of him surfaced on social media, showing a uniformed detective buying food for someone less fortunate His lieutenant, Lt. John Hall, could not think of a more deserving candidate for the title.
“When you have one of your people stop and do that, it’s a feeling you can’t describe,” says Hall. “That you’ve got someone that works for you that’s willing to take the time, they don’t care what’s going on around them, who sees it, what they think, they do what’s right. You just can’t say enough about a person that’s willing to do that.”
Roberson’s fiancée, Jacquelyn Tomlinson, nominated him for the award. She wanted the rest of Montgomery to know about his selfless nature. And to remind everyone that the people they see in uniforms have lives and families, too.
“He’s my fiancée before he’s a police officer,” she says. “You know, he’s a brother and a son before he’s a police officer. But at the end of the day he’s still an officer and he has a job to do, and we all understand that and we all respect that.”
Roberson is just happy someone thought he was doing a good job.
“It’s nothing I deserve more than the next officer,” he says. “I believe that all of us do it, and all of us go out of our way to help people. We see things every single day that breaks our heart and we want to help people.”
Roberson is thankful his soon-to-be wife thought he was worthy of the nomination, but thinks she is deserving as well.
“She kinda has to take a backseat every now and then for the betterment of the community, and she deserves this award as much as I do really.”