Forrester named Employee of the Year by Noon Exchange Club

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Cheryl Forrester, executive assistant for the Copperas Cove Police Department, was named the Employee of the Year by the Copperas Cove Noon Exchange Club at its May 24 meeting.
Forrester has been employed by the City of Copperas Cove for almost 23 years. 
Chief of Police Eddie Wilson nominated Forrester for the recognition, given annually by the club. 
“Since her first day of employment, she has worked tirelessly to ensure our police officers only have one objective to worry about; to be a police officer,” Wilson stated in his letter of nomination. “Cheryl serves as the Police Department’s link to Human Resources, Finance, Budgeting, and several other outside resources allowing officers to direct their focus on just serving the community. 
“Since the loss of Chief Molnes, Cheryl’s knowledge and experience have played a vital part in maintaining the high standards established many years ago in the areas of budgeting, purchasing, inventory, and numerous other administrative responsibilities.”
Wilson cited a number of Forrester’s accomplishments behind the scenes over the years. 
“Our taxpayers should know that Cheryl has also played an important role in fiscal management. She has identified and written numerous grants that have provided funding relief for a variety of programs and equipment. These grants have placed body armor on our frontline officers, provided technology to assist with emergency
management operations, funded enforcement stings that control underage smoking, added vehicles and tools that aid in the investigation of major crimes, equipped officers with tasers, updated our ability to scale accident and crime scenes, and develop community service programs such as Kiddo Cards and DWI prevention.”
Wilson said that her contributions to the department and the community “would need to be broken down like chapters in a book to do it proper justice.”
Wilson said that one of the things he loves most about Forrester is her humble and modest personality, and that she doesn’t work for attention, awards, or praise. 
“She chooses to remain stealth in her work and is fulfilled by just knowing she is helping others. I came to terms long ago knowing that if our staff had to choose between Cheryl or me, I would be the one boxing up my stuff.”