2020 Western Region Officer of the Year Award Winner
Sergeant Jared Jones, of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation, has been named the 2020 Western Region Officer of the Year.
Sgt. Jones has spent the majority of his 20-year career working at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Lake Powell), but spent some time at the Steinaker/Red Fleet/Flaming Gorge complex as well. Since the beginning of his career, Sgt. Jones has been active in the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation’s law enforcement training programs. He has served as an instructor for various courses including firearms, defensive tactics, boating operation and tactics, and more. Sgt. Jones is also a field training officer for the Division and assists the National Park Service in training their new rangers in operations on Lake Powell.
Sgt. Jones is a leader in Boating Under the Influence (BUI) enforcement and arrests on the water. Not only is he focused on removing and eliminating impaired operators from Utah’s waterways, but he also focuses on educating boaters on the dangers of BUI and other safe boating practices.
Throughout his career, Sgt. Jones has put in the extra time and effort to educate the boating public about boating safety. Some of these instances may have involved citations and arrests, but many of them were simply conversations to help boaters understand how to be prepared for problems on the water.
Sgt. Jones has left a great impact on many of his fellow officers. He has shaped many of Utah’s officers’ careers by being an outstanding mentor, leader and friend. Sgt. Jones continues to show immense patience when teaching new officers the boating basics, and goes the extra mile to ensure that they have ample opportunity to practice these new skills.
Many would say that Sgt. Jones dedicated his life to being proficient in his job and sharing his knowledge with others. He is known to have high expectations for his officers, because he wants them to be prepared for whatever happens while on the water. Sgt. Jones did not simply teach these habits, but he led his fellow officers by example.
It is no doubt that Sgt. Jones has saved countless lives and prevented many injuries throughout the course of his career on Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge Reservoirs, and will be greatly missed upon his retirement in October 2020. Whether this was due to boating citations and arrests on the water, or the wealth of knowledge and insight he shared with his fellow officers, he has truly made a difference on Utah’s waterways. Congratulations Sergeant Jared Jones!
First presented in 2000, the Marvin “Butch” Potts Memorial Award, known as the Boating Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award, is presented annually to the boating law enforcement officer who has made outstanding contributions to the field of boating law enforcement. The award program consists of three levels: state, regional and national.
The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators is a national nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that works to develop public policy for recreational boating safety. NASBLA represents the recreational boating authorities of all 50 states and the U.S. territories. We offer a variety of resources, including training, model acts, education standards, publications and more. Through a national network of thousands of professional educators, law enforcement officers and volunteers, we affect the lives of over 76 million American boaters.
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