The Farmville Police Department, Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office, Longwood University Police Department and Farmville Volunteer Fire Department are to be commended on receiving the Secret Service’s highest award from its director, Randolph Alles.

The four agencies, along with a plethora of others on local, state and federal levels, worked to keep our community and visitors safe during the sole U.S. Vice Presidential Debate last October.

The four individual awards came to the agencies — made up of the state’s finest police officers and firefighters — last Tuesday during several ceremonies celebrating the hard work of these men and women.

The highly-coveted awards came from the U.S. Secret Service’s Richmond Field Office.

“Today is just an opportunity for us to recognize both departments for their outstanding contribution during the debate that was held here last year,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kerry M. Crowe when presenting the awards to firefighters and police in Farmville.

Crowe cited that the award was from the director of the secret service.

I vividly remember walking along Main Street and driving along South Main Street on the night of the debate. I was in the process of covering local Democratic and Republican responses to the debate and its content. When I saw the two helicopters circling overhead, along with the heavy police presence on campus and in town, I knew that Farmville was the safest place I could be in the U.S. at that moment in time, which gave me a very secure feeling.

“We don’t give these awards every time. We just, you know, have an event, we give them for big events, special events,” Crowe said. “… It’s a token of the hard work that was put in for all the months of planning.”

JORDAN MILES is managing editor of The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Jordan.Miles@FarmvilleHerald.com.