Excellent work: Retiring officers routinely proved their dedication to community

The community is no less safe nor less secure without them, not because they are so easily replaced but because the legacy they leave behind is ingrained in each and every officer they have mentored over their illustrious careers.

Capt. Teresa Cox and Sgt. Dale Foster each dedicated more than two decades of their lives and invested immeasurable amounts of themselves in this community.

As members of the Goldsboro Police Department, they responded whenever called upon to voluntarily place themselves between us and the dangers we fear most. At untold personal sacrifice to themselves and to their own families, they put their lives on the line each morning and night so that our streets would be a little bit safer, so that our property would be a little more secure, and so that our lives would know a little more peace than would be known without them.

The police force is better for having had their guidance, learned wisdom and experience at its disposal, and we as a community cannot express fully our gratitude for their service.

May the officers who served with them and those who come up behind them continue to employ their lessons and embody the example they each, in their own way, set day in and day out.

And may you each know true rest, comfort and fulfillment in your retired years -- your overdue reward for your unfaltering commitment to the rest of us.

Published in Editorials on April 23, 2018 8:33 PM