Roanoke Rapids Animal Control Officer Pete Wilson was the recipient Tuesday of the police department’s inaugural SHIELD Award, an honor bestowed on the person who exemplifies the department’s core values.

Those values are service, honesty, integrity, leadership, and dedication, Chief Shane Guyant told the council. “It is designed for the employee that is exemplary in every single facet of our core values.”

“This man is it,” he said of Wilson. “He is the SHIELD Award. He does so much with the resources that he has to work with providing animal control services to our city.”

Guyant told the council and people in attendance, “You should be extremely proud of what he does for us. He does it professionally. I never get complaints on anything he does. He follows through on everything you ask him to follow through with. He’s honest to me all the time.”

Guyant said Wilson comes up with innovative ideas, most recently one to reach out to Walmart and Tractor Supply about getting dog and cat food for those animals around the city. “We put something on Facebook and the next thing you know we’re getting inundated with this stuff from all across the country.”

Wilson, the chief said, “Strives to be excellent in everything he does. He came to me wanting to know about becoming a member of an organization that is driven toward animal control so we’re getting him into that. He’s a leader. He never turns down an opportunity to help when you need him. He’s there every day.”

Guyant said Wilson never ends the day without checking with communications to see if there are any more calls pending. “If communications says no he says he’s 10-42. This guy is the epitome of what a city employee should be.”