Brevard Sheriff’s Aviation Unit Earns Video Award

By  //  July 18, 2012

Work Helped Catch Cocoa Burglar

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit was awarded 3rd Place in the FLIR Vision Awards Ceremony, which was hosted earlier this month at the 2012 Annual Airborne Law Enforcement Association Convention in Reno, Nev.  

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit has earned an award for a video it made of an aerial pursuit of a burglary suspect in Cocoa. (Image courtesy Brevard County Sheriff's Office)

The FLIR Vision Awards are presented annually to airborne law enforcement teams with the best video of a rescue, chase, apprehension or surveillance mission.  Only one video per team may be submitted for award consideration.

Brevard County Sheriff’s Corporal/Pilot Chris Sands and Sheriff’s Deputy/Tactical Flight Officer Joseph Barrera were among the top three finalists selected from video submissions from around the world.

Corporal Sands and Deputy Barrera were recognized for demonstrating their outstanding coordination and quality of teamwork while assisting, tracking and apprehending a burglary suspect in Cocoa in April.

Jack Parker serves as the Brevard County Sheriff. (Image courtesy Brevard County Sheriff's Office)

“We are so proud of our aviation team.  This is not the first time they have been nationally recognized for their outstanding work,” said Brevard County Sheriff Jack Parker. “We have lost count of the number of lives they have saved and criminals they have helped to apprehend.”

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit is known nationally among airborne law enforcement units as a progressive unit with exceptional abilities to locate and apprehend criminals.

They have previously been awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the FLIR Awards and are the only airborne law enforcement unit in the world to be recognized as a finalist in 6 out of the last 11 years for this award.

As part of the award, a charitable donation on behalf of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office will be presented to The United Way of Brevard.