MADD Enforcement Hero Award Awarded To Duncanville Police Officer

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Duncanville Police Department
Patrick Deggs

Duncanville Police Officer Patrick Deggs Receives Hero Award from MADD

Patrick Deggs, who has served as a Duncanville police officer for three years, was awarded the Enforcement Hero Award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). The award was presented at a July 18 awards ceremony held in Irving.

MADD was established in 1980, and its mission is to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes and prevent underage drinking.

Duncanville Police Chief Robert Brown said, “Drunk driving enforcement is an important police activity. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, every two hours, three people are killed in alcohol-related highway crashes. I am very proud of Officer Deggs’ drunk driving enforcement. Our roadways are safer because of his enforcement efforts.”

Sergeant Matt Stogner nominated Officer Deggs for his 23 DWI arrests in 2016, which accounted for 43 percent of the department’s total DWI arrests. Deggs has been an officer with the city of Duncanville for three years.

“I have been around law enforcement my whole life with my father being a police officer, and it is the only thing I wanted to do,” Deggs said. “My dad has been a police officer for 26 years, and is currently a Patrol Sergeant with the Allen Police Department. I have been blessed to be influenced by countless police officers throughout my youth. These officers are always there for me to lean on but my one hero that is always there for me and that I lean on the most is my Dad,” he added.

Deggs says, “I am blessed to have three sets of loving and supportive parents. My dad and step-mom live in the DFW area, my mom and step-dad live in the Houston area, and my father-in-law and mother-in-law live in the DFW Area. I have been married to my loving wife for just over a year. The three kids currently running around our house are our animals.”

Officer Deggs graduated from North Central Council of Government Police Academy in Arlington in 2015. A police explorer from age 14 until he turned 20, Deggs began a law enforcement career as a dispatcher with the University of Texas at Dallas in 2009. In 2010 he began working for the Collin County Sheriff’s Office as a dispatcher, continuing to work at UT Dallas part time. In 2012 he was hired by the City of Allen Police Department as a dispatcher, eventually transitioning to detention officer.

“As a detention officer, I was provided with the opportunity to be certified as a breath test operator,” Deggs says, “which is when my passion for DWI enforcement took off. In 2014 I was hired by the City of Duncanville Police Department as a Police Officer.”

MADD Supports Dallas County Law Enforcement Agencies’ Efforts to Reduce Drunk Driving

Deggs said he was thrilled to receive the award from MADD, an organization whose work he admires. “MADD is very aggressive in Dallas County and offers unlimited support,” he said. “MADD is supportive in many different ways. They are advocates for change and lobby to strengthen and pass new DWI laws. They have volunteers who help provide support to victims and survivors of DWI incidents. They have community speakers who go into communities to teach on the dangers of drunk driving. In many other ways they are involved with communities and first responders in support of reducing Drunk Driving.”

Deggs said, “Drunk and drugged driving is a choice many people make every day. As a community, we should come together to try to stop that choice, for the betterment and future safety of our communities. Drunk and drugged driving is an inexcusable and senseless choice made by people that has a negative impact on countless people, daily, not only in the great state of Texas but within our great country. I encourage everyone to contact their local MADD representative to see how they can help eliminate drunk and drugged driving through awareness, education, laws and community outreach programs. The life they save through their efforts may be theirs or their children’s.”

Officer Deggs said, “All 23 of my DWI arrests in 2016 were made Wednesday through Saturday between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am during my normal patrol shift hours. However, people with alcohol and illegal narcotic related addictions drive drunk 24 hours a day all year long. I was assigned to day shift, 6AM-6PM, in 2017, in which I have investigated multiple DWI’s. The idea that people only operate vehicles while intoxicated at night is false, people operate vehicles throughout the day while intoxicated.”

Deggs said, “Numerous people have refused to participate or complete the standardized field sobriety tests because of law firms’ advertisement to not cooperate and or refuse the tests. However, that does not prevent officers, including myself, from taking enforcement actions when needed. People are sometimes aggressive when stopped for being intoxicated whether in public or while operating a vehicle or boat because they do not see the danger or potential consequence in their actions, but that does not prevent officers from protecting citizens, including those intoxicated, from unnecessary harm by taking enforcement actions when needed.”

Asked if he worked alone or with a partner, Deggs said, “Our department does not have staffing for two man units therefore we work individually, however a backup unit is never too far away when additional help is needed on a call.”

The Duncanville Police Department consists of 61 full-time officers and seeks to contribute to the highest quality of life. For more information about MADD, visit: www.madd.org. For more information about Duncanville’s Police Department, visit: www.duncanville.com.