Jul. 5—Vanessa Flores has always worked hard and gone the extra mile, but she was still taken aback to be chosen Officer of the Year for Ector County ISD.

Stationed at George H.W. Bush New Tech Odessa, Flores’ campuses also include Odessa Collegiate Academy and OCTECHS. She just completed six years with the district.

“I felt very honored, because with us, my colleagues, my partners, are the ones that vote you in. In the beginning they send out a list of names and they’re the ones that vote you in,” she added. “I like to help out when I can, not expecting anything in return. But I felt very happy.”

Flores said she feels she’s always been a hard worker. This is the first year she was assigned to a campus like NTO, which is pretty quiet.

“I’ve always been at busy schools, so I’ve always worked hard. I always go the extra mile and this year I was also given the opportunity to become one of the internal affairs investigators, so I’ve been working on a lot of backgrounds (for new hires). I just completed two this past week that I submitted (June 17),” Flores said.

In internal affairs, she would also investigate a complaint against an officer.

When she was told she would be placed at NTO, Flores said she was upset because the campus was so calm. She was used to writing six or seven reports at day.

But now when she sometimes goes to the middle schools, she’s glad to be on a smaller campus. She got to know her juniors and seniors and build relationships without them being in trouble.

“It was real different; very smart kids,” Flores said.

The only issue she’s had is with criminal trespass when students sneak in from other campuses.

“I love it, because like I said, it’s so small that they know who belongs here and who doesn’t,” Flores said.

A South Texas transplant, she worked for the Penitas Police Department in the Rio Grande Valley. Her husband, Leroy, came to Odessa to work in the oilfield. He now works for the ECISD Police Department as well.

“I came up here to work in the oilfield and then on my vacation break I came up to visit him. During the day, I was bored while he was at work so I went to the mall and that’s where I met Lieutenant (Terry) Upchurch and Lieutenant (Chancey) Westfall. I found it strange that it was such a small mall for it to have officers because where we’re from it’s a big mall and there’s no officers. … So I approached them. I was like, so what do you all do? They explained to me, but then they told me they worked for the school district. … They explained that that was an off duty (gig),” Flores said.

She introduced herself and said she was an officer, too. They said ECISD was hiring officers and they explained the hours and the days off, which sounded good to her.

“I went back home. I thought about it. I put in an application and here I am. I ended up moving here,” Flores said.

She and Leroy have four children.

They are first-generation law enforcement. They don’t have family in the field.

“I have one daughter, who is currently at Texas A&M. She wanted to be a doctor all her life. She graduated top three last year from Permian (High School). So now she’s going into forensics. She went over there because of forensics,” Flores said.

Flores has been in law enforcement for 13 years.

But she wasn’t always a police officer. With a bachelor’s degree from University of Texas Pan American, she started off as a prekindergarten teacher and has taught kindergarten, first and second grade. She taught middle school as well but didn’t like it.

She heard stories from the younger kids about abuse and that’s what pointed her toward law enforcement.

“I wanted to make sure that they got the consequences. I couldn’t handle the little ones telling me this and took a major turn. I’m the only female with four older brothers. When I told my parents, they were like what you’re a girl. I went when I was in my 30s to the police academy. They’re like, you’re a female. You’re short. You’re too nice. You’re not going to make it,” Flores recalled.

But it was something she wanted to do. She made it and one of the first cases she investigated was of a child being sexually assaulted. At first, they thought it was the mother’s boyfriend, but it turned out it was the maternal grandfather.

Her reports are very thorough and detailed because she wants to make sure the charges stick. So far, she’s never been called to court.

“Since then, I’ve treated every case as an investigation as if it were going to go to court. Even the simplest things now I make sure I have all my information gathered, all my facts to make sure it’s going to stick. Even on information reports, my lieutenants have told me, you write a lot. I’m like, you never know. I like to go back just in case … because you never know (if) these information cases are going to go somewhere,” Flores said.

As a side note, her office at NTO has sports bobbleheads, vehicles, ducks and Selena memorabilia.

ECISD Police Chief Jeff Daniels said Flores is very deserving of the award.

“Vanessa is an outstanding officer. Every campus she’s worked she’s developed great relationships with the students and staff. She is a perfect example of an officer who strives to be the best in her position. She is a true asset to ECISD and the department,” Daniels said.