Unheralded heroes: everyone involved in Manatee County's drug court

Thank you, Manatee Probation & Drug Court Services. Probation and drug curt staff have a thankless job.

Each day they are tasked with working with our county’s poor, addicted and those who run afoul of the law. They are tasked with providing services with limited resources, scant budgets, and few to do the job of many.

Those that are ordered into these services often do not realize that these individuals are not there to punish but rather sincerely want to improve the lives of the many they serve.

I’ve been blessed to work with many of these folks. They are prompt to respond to inquires, look for solutions for the desperate, and ultimately and genuinely just want to see the citizens of Manatee County realize a better quality of life. Thank you, Drug Court, for collaborating daily with the leadership from the state attorney’s office, public defenders, counselors, and amazing staff that are too many to name.

Thank you to our probation services: from the friendly staff at the front desk, to Tania in Pretrial Diversion, and all the hard-working probation officers who genuinely work each day in a thankless job to help our community. Citizens of Manatee County who have never needed these services may never know how vital these people are everyday to fighting what seems to be a losing battle but ultimately makes our county safer and more secure.

As an attorney I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to work with these folks everyday and I just felt compelled to let the people of this community know that these unheralded heroes fight for the soul of our community every day with little recognition. Manatee County has some of the finest public servants. Thank you!

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Unheralded heroes: everyone involved in Manatee County's drug court."