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2021 Boating Officer of the Year Awarded to Senior Officer Brandon Harris
Richmond, VA — The Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) announced that Senior Conservation Police Officer Brandon W. Harris has been named the 2021 Virginia Boating Officer of the Year.
Officer Harris’s enthusiastic leadership, his dedication to Conserving and Protecting Virginia’s wildlife resources, and his outstanding efforts in connecting the citizens of the Commonwealth to the outdoors through boating safety and educational outreach, made him the top candidate for this award. Officer Harris is the first two-time recipient of this prestigious award.
“I am proud of all of our officers, but especially proud of the outstanding work Officer Harris has done to be selected for this prestigious award. He was part of an extraordinary group of nominees that we are privileged to have working for us and for the citizens of the Commonwealth. They are each to be congratulated on being chosen to represent their respective regions in the Boating Officer of the Year selection process,” DWR Chief of Law Enforcement John Cobb.
Throughout his career, Officer Brandon Harris has taken on a leadership role within his district and has proven to be the epitome of a field officer who spends countless hours patrolling the waterways of Central Virginia looking for violations and protecting Virginia’s boaters. He has also proven to be a highly accomplished investigator and conducted numerous complex boating related investigations in 2021. He routinely places a special emphasis on the detection of and apprehension of the more serious public safety violations.
Officer Harris is highly regarded in his assigned county of Halifax and the other counties within the district he works. His steadfast work ethic and amicable personality serve as an example to his fellow officers and are the basis for his reputation as an unwavering and fair conservation officer.
Officer Harris is always ready to offer his assistance to the community he serves. He was the MADD Award recipient for his outstanding efforts in detecting unlawful Boating Under the Influence and has been nominated for a lifesaving award for an on-water rescue of two persons whose boat had capsized in frigid waters in April 2021.
Officer Harris is a seasoned officer with almost 15 years of dedicated service with DWR. He serves the DWR Law Enforcement Division as a general instructor, as the agencies lead instructor for the division’s Boat Cadre, as a Team Member of the Boating Incident Reconstruction Team, and on numerous internal agency committees. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Science.
A photo of Senior Officer Brandon Harris is available upon request.