By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó As part of a week honoring law enforcement officers nationwide, the Kannapolis Police Department presented a patrol officer and a civilian employee with the agency’s annual awards for integrity at Monday’s City Council meeting.
Officer Andrew Deal received the 2009 Roger Dale Carter Memorial Award, presented each year to the officer who, in the department’s view, has “an exceptional reputation for honesty and integrity that is beyond reproach.”
Carter was the first Kannapolis police officer to be killed in the line of duty when he was shot by a suspect on New Year’s Eve, 1993.
Deal is a school resource officer at A.L. Brown High School, where he also teaches and coaches softball.
Police Chief Woody Chavis said Deal’s personal and professional life “reflects pride, excellence, integrity and stewardship, the four values that are core to the department.”
Deal holds a degree in Criminal Justice from UNC-Charlotte and also serves as an assistant team leader for KPD’s Special Response Team.
Candy Waller, a civilian employee of the department, received this year’s Norma C. Howard Memorial Award, presented to an unsworn employee on the basis of personal honor and integrity.
Waller, an employee of the department since 1998, is an administrative assistant. “I have relied heavily upon her since becoming chief of police,” Chavis said.
Among her achievements is the organization of an agencywide fundraiser to gather scholarship money for the children of slain officers.
The award’s namesake, Norma Howard, was the department’s first female employee.
Hired in 1947 to temporarily restructure the department’s records system, she stayed on for 26 years and was instrumental in the department’s growth. Howard died in 2001.
Waller’s “giving spirit is reflected in the many special projects she has undertaken,” Chavis said.
“She is considered the go-to person within the department if anyone has a problem. When you call, you get that friendly voice. She’s always there to help.”