Rotary Club chooses Dykes for Service Above Self award
Joshua Dykes, Knoxville Police Department officer, received Rotary Club of Farragut’s Service above Self Award during a club meeting Wednesday, July 13.
Dykes said one of his happiest moments was saving a child in the midst of a seizure by performing first aid and summoning medical personnel.
“Just being out in the community and actually feeling like there are times when you can really make a difference,” he said, describing the kind of things that make him proud.
KPD Chief David E. Rausch listed that incident and some of Dykes’ other achievements over the past year, including braving freezing temperatures to check on an elderly resident with no utilities or food in her home before buying food for her and her pets and contacting KUB, allowing her to safely remain in her home.
“People come up to me all the time from years ago, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, you cut me a break some odd number of years ago, and I was able to get a job or I was able to go to school and do something with my life because I didn’t go to jail or you helped me out in some way, and those things really matter,” Dykes said.
Rausch said Dykes was instrumental in the success of a crime suppression initiative in the East District to address property crime.
He said Dykes made the first arrest of that new team. He also listed other arrests made by Dykes or with his assistance. Rausch said Dykes apprehended two forgery and fraud suspects and gathered information leading to the apprehension of an arson suspect and assisted in taking two suspects into custody during a burglary in progress.
“Arrests are part of the job, and I know there’s a lot of focus on arrests and citations … That’s what a lot of people think we do, but the majority of what we do is … counseling people. Whether we’re qualified to do that or not sometimes is a question,” Dykes said.
“Really being able to speak to people and get them going in a direction other than somewhere negative, which is a lot of times where they’re headed when they call us … That’s why they call us,” Dykes said.
Rausch thanked Rotary Club of Farragut for recognizing law enforcement first responders.
“It’s a tough profession. All you have to do is turn on the news this past week to see how difficult it has been, the scrutiny that happens and the challenge of what you face as a result of the scrutiny … Our folks lay their lives on the line, literally,” Rausch said.
