Inside this issue of the Franklin County Times, you will find this year’s version of our annual Progress edition. This year, we spotlight and honor law enforcement personnel across the county.

Progress is a chance for us to really showcase the assets of Franklin County. As our community grows and changes, there are many moving pieces that work together to make this the place we call home.

Every year, we zero in on one of those pieces of Franklin County. Local law enforcement seemed like the perfect facet of our communities to highlight this year.

“To protect and serve” – that’s the tagline of this year’s edition because that’s the ultimate mission of Franklin County’s law officers. Day in and day out, law enforcement officers are there for the toughest moments of our lives – for break-ins and burglaries, for traffic accidents and domestic disputes. Each moment of their day is punctuated by responding to everything from assault to drug distribution, from motor vehicle infractions to city ordinance violations.

They are tasked with enforcing, investigating, comforting, interviewing, testifying and more. Considering the almost endless roles law enforcement officers serve, you’d probably hard pressed to find a citizen in this county who has not interacted with one of them on some occasion.

It’s not easy, the part they play in our justice system. It’s not easy, it’s not glamorous, and it’s often a thankless job.

Despite clamor across the country to “defund the police” and despite the denigration officers face in other areas, Franklin County’s law enforcement officers said they are, by and large, supported by the community.

We want to encourage that support.

We hope this edition can play a tiny part in showing gratitude to the brave, self-sacrificing men and women who choose to step up and be law enforcement officers. It takes courage and commitment; it takes a servant’s heart.

We hope you will take the time to flip through the pages of this year’s Progress edition and get to know these local civil servants.

View the full version of Progress 2021 here or pick up a copy at the Franklin County Times’ office or select locations across Franklin County.