It seems like yesterday, but was actually 2015, when I wrote an article about the hiring of several Bluffton Police officers, including Sgt. Jason Rodriguez.
And speed forward to today – Sgt. Rodriguez has shown this town so much love and gratitude that the people of Bluffton nominated him and then voted him the Best First Responder in Bluffton.
There is no particular event that inspired his nomination and win, but if you look at his time with our police department you will quickly understand why our residents thought so much of him to give him this honor.
For those of you who haven’t met Sgt. Rodriguez, I want to share with you a little of his history. He has been a police officer since 2003 and joined our department in 2015. Prior to that he served our country for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
This past year we had a program on social media called Cop Connection, and he was interviewed. If you are interested go to the Police Department Facebook page and search this.
Sgt. Rodriguez is fluent in Spanish, which gives him the ability to communicate with the majority of our Bluffton community.
He loves working on cars and spending time with his church and his lovely family. He leads a patrol team and is the supervisor of the department’s K9 units. He claims to have the best K9 ever, and if you happen to see him on the street, give him and Hunden a wave and a smile. Most likely he will stop and get to know you and also let you pet Hunden.
I would love to write about all of our officers as they deserve so much thanks and praise for all they do. We are very lucky to have such a great group of men and women. So, on behalf of all of your fellow officers, thank you, Sgt. Rodriguez for serving the Town of Bluffton.
DID YOU KNOW?: Have you seen planes flying close to the ground recently? This is a county program of mosquito control that has occurred since 1974.
With the population growth that has occurred, I wanted to make sure our newer readers understood what was happening. More info is on the Beaufort County website, where you will see a schedule and also learn about the environmentally friendly spray they use: beaufortcountysc.gov/mosquito-control/index.html.
Lisa Sulka is the mayor of the Town of Bluffton. lsulka@townofbluffton.com
