Officer Michael Henderson received the Pine Bluff Police Department’s Officer of the Year award Friday night at the department’s annual awards banquet.
Henderson was working at Dillard’s when former PBPD Police Chief Ivan Whitfield recommended him to apply to the department, according to PBPD Assistant Police Chief Kelven Hadley. Whitfield knew Henderson because Henderson had participated in the department’s youth programs several years ago.
“Michael Henderson has had a great comeback with what he has had to endure in his personal life,” Hadley said. “That could have broken him. He lost his father in July 2022, then less than a year later lost his mother in 2023. I saw this young man. I saw him when he came back to work. He was defeated. It appeared that he had lost a sense of being there. But we talked with him, we counseled him, and we embraced him. His fellow officers embraced him.”
Henderson took the microphone a short time later, saying, “What a surprise.”
“I want to thank my shift. They supported me during that time,” Henderson added. “I especially want to recognize (PBPD Chaplain) Jerry Goss. He’s been here a long time for me. He stayed with me and has been a great father figure to me during this time.”
Congratulations, Officer Henderson.
