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JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Jacksonville Police Department officer Elyse Hand has won the Department of Justice\u2019s 2026 Hometown Hero Award after she was shot in Nov. 2025. Hand and a Jacksonville PD K-9 were injured while she was serving warrants for a then-wanted fugitive who opened fire as Hand called out to him at his home. Hand is now on the road to recovery with help from her young son and her husband, who\u2019s a Texas State Trooper. <\/p>\n
U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs of the Eastern District of Texas announced Hand as their district\u2019s recipient of the 2026 Hometown Hero Award on Friday. According to our news partner KETK, the awards are being given out to law enforcement members around the country this year as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s Freedom250 initiative for the United States\u2019 250th anniversary.
\nPhoto of Elyse Hand, courtesy of U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs\u2019 Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hometown Hero award recognizes one of our law enforcement partners who best embodies the spirit upon which our Nation was founded and reflects a steadfast commitment to the enduring ideals of liberty, service and civic responsibility,\u201d Combs\u2019 office said in a press release.<\/p>\n
Combs\u2019 office also held a charity drive in Hand\u2019s honor to raise money for donations to several local children\u2019s advocacy centers including the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Collin County in Plano, the Grayson County Children\u2019s Advocacy Center in Sherman, the Texarkana Children\u2019s Advocacy Center in Texarkana, the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Smith County in Tyler, Harold\u2019s House East Texas Alliance for Children in Lufkin and the Garth House in Beaumont. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the Eastern District of Texas\u2019 Hometown Hero, Officer Hand represents the sacrifices made by law enforcement officers across the nation every day. We salute Officer Hand and her bravery and wish her a speedy recovery,\u201d Combs\u2019 office said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Jacksonville Police Department officer Elyse Hand has won the Department of Justice\u2019s 2026 Hometown Hero Award after she was shot in Nov. 2025. Hand and a Jacksonville PD K-9 were injured while she was serving warrants for a then-wanted fugitive who opened fire as Hand called out to him at his home. Hand … Continue reading Officer wins DOJ Hero Award<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1509627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/05\/2026-05-24_030446-200x198.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1509584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-02 02:03:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/05\/2026-05-24_030446-200x198.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1509584"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509896,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509584\/revisions\/1509896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1509584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1509584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1509584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}