Friday, March 29, 2024

Southlake Police Welcomes Two New Officers

The Southlake Police Department is proud to welcome two new officers to the force.  Officer Dustin Cornett is a Texas native.  He grew up in Midlothian and studied Business at Navarro College.

He has wanted to be a police officer since he was kid, when he would watch car chases and cool action scenes on TV and in movies.  Now that he’s older, he said he now wants to do something where he feels like he’s making a difference.  He was applying at nearby agencies when he stumbled across Southlake.  He said he saw how much support the City gave the Department and how tight knit everyone seemed.  He applied shortly thereafter.

Officer Cornett said his most memorable moment came on his first day out of field training.  He was dispatched to a parking complaint at a baseball field since cars were illegally parked and blocking the roadway.  He talked with the parents and coaches about clearing the road and one of the coaches asked him to talk to the kids about respect, which he did.  He answered questions about being a police officer and said it was a great experience handling community policing.

Officer Carter Harraid grew up in East Texas and attended the University of Texas at Tyler.  One of his family friends was a former Chief of Police for his hometown and he admired and respected him growing up.

So far he’s been surprised by the size of the City, as he had been familiar with Town Square and the main thoroughfares, but not by how vast the land is north of Highway 114.

Since being a solo unit at Southlake, his favorite moment so far was when a family was visiting from South Korea and a little boy was a superfan of police officers.  The family invited Officer Harraid to the boy’s birthday party and he got to meet him and show off his police equipment and squad car.

Both officers are currently on night shift protecting the community and we are thrilled to have them here.

An image of a family bowling and dining

Photo of a solar eclipse