(Radio Iowa) – The Storm Lake Police Department is among 15 national recipients of the 2022 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. It’s the highest U.S. government honor recognizing employers that support of National Guard and Reserve employees. Gerardo Bravo, a member of the Iowa National Guard, joined the Storm Lake Police Department in 2016 and he nominated the agency for the award. “This reward just reflects all the work the city and Chief Cole have been putting in and all the patrol officers,” Bravo says. “I know it ain’t easy having half the department that’s in the National Guard. It takes a lot of work to cover down shifts and I know our bosses aren’t afraid to throw on a duty belt and hit the road.”

Bravo is one of seven Storm Lake police officers who are Iowa National Guard members. “Whether it was our normal drill weekends or deployments, especially my last deployment where I was in Iraq, Chief Cole and the rest of the officers were super supporting, sending us care packages,” Bravo says. “Anytime something would happen over there, they would always get on the phone and call us to make sure we were OK. They’d always be checking up on our families. I know Chief Cole took great care of my family when I was gone, making sure everything was taken of.”

Becky Coady is State Chair of the Iowa Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. She says comments from the judges who chose the Storm Lake Police Department for the award cited its flexible scheduling, robust training and support for Guard members before their deployments and after they returned. “And, as the judges recognized, it’s not just what has been done for the military members, but how it’s been accomplished,” she says, “with an attitude of care and a mission of heart.”

More than 28-hundred public and private sector employers were nominated for the same award. The Storm Lake Police Department is just the 6th award recipient ever from Iowa and is the state’s first ever winner in the public sector category.