BATESVILLE — Patrolman Jordan Akins said he made the best decision when joining the Batesville Police Department on June 1, 2015, and he’s now been awarded for his service. Last month, the department named Akins as its Officer of the Year.
“I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to work in a community that’s so appreciative of public service,” he said.
Akins said he’s been with the Batesville Police Department since it got its restart last year. From 1981 to 2015, the city did not have its own police force because of an interlocal agreement for law enforcement between Batesville and Independence County.
“I believe it’s a safe community,” Akins said. “The city of Batesville has been super accepting and appreciative of us since opening in 2015. When [the department] came open, they just opened their arms, accepted us, and it’s an awesome place to work.”
As part of his award, Akins received a Kimber Custom II handgun engraved with “Jordan Akins, 2016 Officer of the Year” and the department’s badge. Ozark Information Services in Batesville donated the handgun.
Akins, who is from Ozark, studied sociology with an emphasis in criminology and a minor in addiction studies at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, from which he graduated in December 2010. He also graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Camden in 2011.
“At the time, I was interested in the Postal Inspection Service,” said Akins, whose mother and father worked in postal service. “I was wanting to go into federal law enforcement, but the opportunity to go to State Parks came up, and it sounded like a good deal.”
Akins worked for Arkansas State Parks, with a season at Bull Shoals-White River State Park and another at Petit Jean Mountain State Park, and spent 2 1/2 years with the Independence County Sheriff’s Office.
“What got me involved with law enforcement was growing up in a Christian home and having rules and everything,” he said. “I was taught to respect the law, and even if I didn’t agree with it, it’s still the law, so I had to. I guess with the media and that stuff going on, the connotation of law enforcement officers was growing to be negative, and I thought that with my upbringing and my people skills — I’m somewhat of a social butterfly — I could help change that connotation to a positive one within my community.”
He also said his college minor gave him an added perspective.
“I got a minor in addiction studies, and that just gave me a whole different perception of addiction problems and that those people who are addicted are victims,” he said.
Akins said that while getting gas, having lunch or stopping by a drive-thru, locals have shown appreciation for his work.
“I’ve been the recipient of people paying for my bill or picking up my tab,” he said. “As I’m walking around different places on duty, [they’ve] stopped and shook my hand, telling me how thankful [they are]. That makes coming to work a whole lot easier.”
Community-oriented policing is Akins’ policing style, which he learned more about while with Arkansas State Parks and while a booking officer at the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office when he was a student at UCA. As a booking officer, he said, he saw people from many walks of life enter a jail cell.
“From all walks of life, they’re all people, just like me,” he said. “That was able to give me the respect I try to give people when I’m on duty.”
When making a traffic stop or responding to a call at a residence as a Batesville patrolman, Akins said he likes to relate to the individual he’s encountering.
“I’d say I’d try to approach it tactfully like any of us would,” he said. “I try to be understanding of the situation from their perspective. It may be someone’s out knocking on their door late at night or they heard a noise — it could be anything — but as it comes across to us, we may not think it’s a big deal, but I try to be understanding because it is a big deal to them, or they wouldn’t have called asking us to be there.”
Police Chief Alan Cockrill said Akins was chosen for Officer of the Year because of his focus on community-oriented policing, something Cockrill encouraged all officers to take part in.
“I put a lot of stress on these guys getting on foot,” Cockrill said. “If they see kids on the basketball court, get out and play basketball with them. … Ultimately, Jordan did the most of that out of any of my other 22 officers. He excelled above all the rest of them. He got multiple, multiple compliments and cards in the mail and Facebook posts and a tremendous amount of success in associating with the community.”
Once, while Akins was having lunch with another officer, an elderly woman with a cane was spotted trying to carry her trash, Cockrill said.
“He put down his food, ran and got her trash, and hauled it for her so she didn’t have to take those other 40 steps,” Cockrill said.”
Akins also has a part-time mowing business and enjoys spending time outside hiking, canoeing and fishing. He said he’d like to thank Josh and Tanya Kemp of Ozark IS for donating the handgun he received as part of his award.
“I was surprised and humbled and just thankful,” Akins said of his award. “I was very appreciative and felt very honored to receive that. Officer of the Year, in the police word — that’s big time.”
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.