InTucker Magazine

Citizen of the Month – Becky Burnett

“I am Officer Johnathan Crego with the DeKalb County Police Department, and I am assigned to the Tucker Community Policing Unit. I have been an officer with the County for seven years (all at Tucker) and would like to nominate Ms. Becky Burnett as the City of Tucker Citizen of the Month.

I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Burnett through mutual friends over a year ago. As my charity work with the homeless community grew, so did my need for more items. I was running low on supplies and expressed the situation to Becky. Becky was able to coordinate with her friends and Tucker First United Methodist Church members by collecting a police car’s worth of clothing, shelter items, hygiene kits and other items to give out to people in need. I was astonished at the amount of items she was able to collect by herself on such short notice. 

After distributing those items, Becky continued to re-supply myself and other Tucker Precinct officers with supplies to give out to needy families/people within our community, all on her own accord. As the weather got cold, she coordinated a collection of more than a dozen new sleeping bags, a box full of hygiene kits she made and numerous boxes of winter clothing to distribute. Throughout our time working together, we were able to supply over four car loads of items to give out to more than 30 people. 

Ms. Burnett was also instrumental in getting the word out to the community through social media, which brought in even more donations. Ms. Burnett was able to shed light on the charity work officers within the community are doing with Tucker residents, building a great bond between the citizens of Tucker and DeKalb County Police Department.

Becky reached out to several non-profit organizations within the Tucker community to meet the new team, and even sat in on several of our meetings, providing valuable ideas for all of us. During one of the meetings, one of our team members received a call about a homeless female in need at a nearby Walmart. Becky heard about the female and eventually, out of her own goodwill, paid for the female’s lodging at a hotel, numerous meals, clothing and even paid to get the female’s wheelchair fixed. Becky has spent a long time with this female in need by providing companionship and care, just because she is such a deep, caring, and thoughtful person.

Becky has housed homeless citizens in her own home, spent countless hours collecting items to distribute, paid for meals, provided clothing and has become a vital part of bridging the relationship between the police and the citizens of DeKalb. I have never met a more caring or compassionate person in my life and am fortunate enough to know her and all she has done for the community. The City of Tucker is blessed to have such an upstanding citizen within the community and this is why I would like to nominate her for the Tucker Citizen of the Month.”

Nomination by Officer Johnathan Crego, 
DeKalb County Police Department