“Officer Deguio fills a dual role at the Georgetown Police Department one as a police officer and the other as an animal control officer. Not to mention his full time job. To his credit he has found a way to balance all three. He has been able to work with the Town Clerks Office to get dogs licensed and to work on those issue when assigned to that position, however if someone runs a red light he can also deal with that. Officer Deguio is a dedicated family man. He also loves the Red Sox and other New England teams.”
PUBLIC SAFETY PERSON FORM
Name: Officer Keith Deguio
Age: 35
Position: Patrolman/Animal Control Officer
Hometown: Georgetown, MA
In several sentences explain why you decided to get involved with public safety.
I wanted to get into public safety because I was brought up where several of my family members were or are currently in public safety. It just seemed that becoming involved in some sort of profession that involved the safety of the public was something that I wanted to get into. I have been involved in public safety for 13+ years now and have not lost interest in it.
Who inspired you and how?
My father, uncle and brother encouraged me to get involved with public safety. My father was a Firefighter for 30+ years as was my uncle. My brother is now a Firefighter. I have been told several positive stories over the years of how being in a public safety profession can be very rewarding. I think that is why I wanted to become involved.
What are the greatest challenges in your field?
Currently I am employed by two different public safety agencies doing two different jobs. The first a 9-1-1 dispatcher. The greatest challenges with this is the hysterical caller needing medical help in a hurry for themselves or a family member and keeping the caller calm while personnel are responding. This often proves challenging. Secondly I am a Police Officer. I think in a lot of instances Police Officers are seen as the people that ruined some ones day with a ticket or as someone that has arrested someone that broke the law in some way. There are times that my interaction with people is quite positive. Unfortunatly as Police Officers we have a job to do and the challenge is not being able to make every experience with the public a positve one.
What advice can you offer for someone who wants to go into public safety?
I guess if I had to give any advice it would be if you are interested in helping people get into a profession that you can do just that. Being able to help people in some positive way and make a diffrence in some way is very rewarding. Receiving that thank you is a great feeling. Again I have been involved in public safety for several years now and would not give that up for any other job.
What’s something about your line of work that most people don’t know?
I think what a lot of people do not know is how much that Police Officers need to know in order to do their jobs effectively and how much training there is to become a Police Officer. Everyday there is some law that has changed or been added and the annual training that is needed to keep our tactical skills sharp. We also need to possess good communication skills to be able to talk with people and disfuse potentially violent situations. Everday day brings new challenges and we need the knowledge and ability to be able to handle all different kinds of situations at a moments notice.
What is a memorable moment in your career and why?
As a Police Officer we are also 1st responders to medical emergencies and trained in such. I have been involved in a situation where I assisted in the successful resuscitation of a person that had gone into cardiac arrest. Overall there have been many instances whether big or small where I have been able to assist citizens in a positive way and just getting that letter of appreciation and thank you is a great and rewarding experience.
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