PHOTO: Patrolman Tyler Perea was named Rainsville Police Department's Employee of the Month for April! (Rainsville Police Department)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
RAINSVILLE, Ala. — The Rainsville Police Department recently named Patrolman Tyler Perea for the month of April. Perea was hired on as a new patrolman in December of last year and has previously served in law enforcement for 10 years. Perea started working in the DeKalb County Jail in 2007, and after working in Cherokee County as Deputy for several years, Perea is now serving the citizens of Rainsville.
While working as a deputy in Cherokee County, Perea was honored and received a citation for saving a woman from a car that had overturned in Weiss Lake in early 2015. Perea and a fellow deputy turned the car back over, saving the woman's life. More recently here in Rainsville, Perea confiscated a large amount of methamphetamine (120 grams) and marijuana after a traffic stop.
Perea was asked how he feels about serving the Rainsville Community, to which Perea answered, “I really love Rainsville, the reason why I love it so much is we have good leadership in our police commissioner Bejan (Taheri), our Chief Kevin (Smith), and Assistant Chief Josh (Wigley). It’s more of a brotherhood and family type environment than any department I’ve been at,” explained Perea.
“The people in the community of Rainsville are generally good people,” added Perea.
Perea was then asked about the level of training in the department:
“Just this morning at 9 o’clock, Chief Smith organized a training session on a bomb detection class put on by ALEA from Huntsville, and the 23rd and 25th we’re having a meth lab class, then in June we’re having a gangs class,” said Perea.
“He’s training quality officers not quantity officers,” added Perea.
“We’re out to protect and serve the citizens of Rainsville, and we’re out to get hard drugs off the street. People don’t realize but, cops grow up in broken homes too, and they grow up with hard drugs in the family, and that’s what makes some people want to do it,” explained Perea, after being asked about his motivation to serve the citizens of Rainsville.
“I also love helping people,” said Perea.
When asked how he likes working at the Rainsville Police Department, Perea explain the atmosphere:
“I’ve never worked at another department that get’s along like we do. We’re a family, and Chief Smith and Chief Wigley have told us that family comes first,” said Perea.
When asked about the decision to name Perea employee of the month, Chief Kevin Smith explained:
“He’s very professional, very courteous in public, he makes good cases, and he makes a lot of good arrests,” said Smith.
Also many who travel down Highway 75 past Cornerstone Christian Academy in the mornings or afternoon, may recognize Perea from directing the flow of traffic while parents drop their kids off or pick them up from school.
“Every time that he directs school traffic at Cornerstone, we get good comments from the community,” explained Smith.
“My goal is for every employee to feel that way, I want them to look forward to coming to work, because if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life,” said Smith.
