Sheriff Boggess receives state DARE Award

The Oklahoma DARE Officers Association held its annual DARE Conference at the Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant Wednesday to announce its Officer of the Year, Supporter of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sheriff Gary Boggess brought some hardware back to Grady County.

Scott Gibbons, Communications Director for the Oklahoma DARE Officers Association, said Friday, “Gary was voted the Dare Supporter of the Year. Anybody can submit those, whether they’re a member or they’re doing it on behalf of one of our members. Sometimes you can get nominated by a school administrator, a teacher, a parent, a coworker, and in Gary’s case, we got it from one of his deputies who nominated him.”

Grady County Deputy Mark Ingram was that deputy. In his letter to the DARE Association, he wrote:

“Ever since Sheriff Boggess came to the Grady County Sheriff’s Office as Undersheriff, he has been not only an avid supporter of their program, but he’s also made school safety a priority. When he arrived at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office, we had one DARE-certified deputy. We now have three under his watch. We have gone from three school resource officers (SROs) to seventeen.”

Gibbons added that since the submission of the letter, Grady County had added another SRO to its ranks as well.

Ingram’s letter continues:

“The Sheriff currently provides at least one SRO for every school district in Grady County. He’s accomplished all this in just one year. He has done this while battling Stage 4 lymphoma and in typical Sheriff Boggess fashion, has not allowed his cancer diagnosis to slow his progress or his determination to better service the citizens and children of Grady County. Sheriff Boggess plans to eventually have a DARE-certified deputy in every elementary school in Grady County. He is a shining example of leadership that is desperately needed in law enforcement. With men like Sheriff Boggess leading from behind the scenes, I’m more than confident that the future of the DARE program will shine brightly for years to come.”

Gibbons is also a deputy for McClain County, and has worked peripherally with Sheriff Boggess in the past.

“We’ve been professional acquaintances for many years,” Deputy Gibbons said. “Even back to his Newcastle days, he’s just a man that I hold in very high regard. What I do throughout the majority of my career has been DARE-related or school-related, and even though we’ve always worked for different departments, we’ve crossed paths because of those programs. He’s as good and as solid as they come, and having had the opportunity to be an extension of his growth, and what they’re doing in Grady County, has just been phenomenal. Being a part of the Oklahoma DARE Officers Association and seeing a department like his just continue to grow every year and the way they support their officers with our training, with our conference, what they do in and out of schools, it’s just been amazing, and we truly need more administrators like him. That’s not to take away from any other administrators, but he’s as good as they come.”

Sheriff Boggess said Saturday, “I am very humbled and honored to receive the Outstanding DARE Supporter Award. Having DARE in our schools to educate our children on the dangers of drugs is very important. My goals are to have all SRO in the school in Grady County DARE certified to educate our children.”