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Officers’
decisiveness makes them two of the state’s best
  APEX
– Compassionate decision making by two transportation officers has led
each of them to being named a North Carolina Correctional Officer of the
Year for 2008.
The
awards were presented today in a ceremony at the Department of
Correction’s training complex in Apex. Nine other officers were
similarly honored.
Correctional
Officers Darletter A. Dawkins and Alexander London of
McCain
Correctional
Hospital
last winter were assigned to transport an inmate surgery patient to
McCain from a Charlotte
hospital. In Richmond
County, life-threatening
complications arose with the inmate and the officers knew that
ambulances may not have been able to transport the inmate to the nearest
hospital quickly enough.
A
native of Richmond
County, Officer Dawkins
used her familiarity with the roads to guide Officer London along the
quickest route. At the hospital, the inmate was stabilized for airlift
back to Charlotte.
The
inmate’s sister, herself a medical professional, said their timely
actions had saved her brother from severe injury and possibly even
death.
The
award nomination states that the officers’ “calm and focused quick
response” was above and beyond the call of duty and had “expanded
positive relations with our stakeholders.”
Dawkins
began her corrections career in 2005 at Scotland Correctional
Institution and transferred to McCain in 2007.
London
has been in corrections since 1991 at McCain.
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Editors: A digital copy
of the photo is available in color and black-and-white
by calling the Public
Affairs Office at 919-716-3700.
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