CLEARFIELD -- One man's detective work is garnering him praise at the state level.
Kyle Jeffries was recently honored during the city council meeting by the United States Attorneys Office, District of Utah, for superior performance as a local law enforcement officer.
"I was extremely surprised," Jeffries said. "I didn't expect to be put in for any type of award. I was doing what I normally do. I was just doing my job."
Others, including city officials, spoke highly of the job Jeffries is doing.
"We're really proud of Sgt. Jeffries," said interim City Manager Adam Lenhard. "He is a great officer."
The award recognizes Jeffries' work investigating three robberies in Davis County, at two retailers in Clinton and Layton and one restaurant in Sunset, according to the award citation.
Jeffries was investigating a separate case in Clearfield involving a robbery and attempted homicide when he linked it to the three armed robberies in the neighboring cities. He took the lead in the investigations, even though they were outside of Clearfield, and this work led to a conviction of the suspect.
Jeffries said he was investigating the homicide when he saw the connection between the other crimes.
"I was able to tie the suspect to the homicide and the other three robberies," he said. "He was a very dangerous person, and I was glad to get him off the streets."
Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Mike Stenquist has worked with Jeffries for roughly 10 years. He said Jeffries deserves the honor for his detective work, and pointed out that the success of the operation was also a picture of good teamwork for all officers involved.
"The award is a reflection of Kyle's work, but also that of the police department," Stenquist said. "Kyle went above and beyond, but there were a lot of detectives that helped.
"Kyle was able to recognize different issues that others didn't connect," Stenquist said.
Jeffries has been with the Clearfield Police Department since 1999. He has held many jobs, including an undercover narcotics officer, a SWAT team member and a detective in the investigations division. Most recently, he was promoted to patrol sergeant.
"Kyle takes his job very seriously," Stenquist said. "Our goal is to make the area safe, not just for our families, but for those people who live in Clearfield and for the visitors from surrounding areas."
Jeffries said he enjoys what he does because he gets to do something new every day, plus he gets to help a lot of people who really need it.
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