Local Leaders Honored at FBI Headquarters
FBI Director James Comey formally recognized 58 individuals and organizations from around the country for their efforts to build stronger, safer, and more cohesive communities.
“This is one of the very best days in the life of this organization,” Director Comey said during the April 28 ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We get to recognize and thank people who made the FBI better and the country better.”
These leaders, selected by their area FBI field office, have demonstrated outstanding contributions to their local communities through service. The FBI is grateful for the work of each of these individuals and organizations on behalf of their communities.
“This year’s honorees have distinguished themselves in remarkable ways through their hard work, their leadership, and their strength of character,” said Director Comey.
“Time and again, today’s award recipients have put others before themselves.”
(Recipients of the 2016 Director’s Community Leadership Awards were honored in a ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.. Courtesy of FBI and YouTube)
In his remarks, Director Comey said this year’s recipients embodied the words attributed to the 16th century minister John Wesley, who said, “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
The Director related a story about speaking to young audiences and warning them against losing sight of what really matters in life.
He would ask them to close their eyes, imagine they were old, and then ask themselves: Who do I want to have been? “I know some of you want to have been people who made a difference for those who needed you,” he would tell the kids, “to have been people who chose lives of moral content, who stood there for the bullied and the picked on and the frightened.”
“Why am I telling you this?” Comey asked on Friday.
“This auditorium is filled with people who have already answered the question in the most remarkable way. You will have been those people.
We’re here today to thank you for being that. Because of you, the FBI is better. Because of you, the United States of America is better.”
We are grateful and hope these honorees inspire others who listen to their stories.
Their actions embody a quote prominently displayed inside FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. that says,
“The most effective weapon against crime is cooperation. The efforts of all law enforcement agencies with the support and understanding of the American people.”
To learn more about the FBI’s community outreach programs, visit www.fbi.gov. Thanks for listening to Inside the FBI. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.
Original post https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016-directors-community-leadership-awards
