{"id":282423,"date":"2026-05-23T23:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T23:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:57:13","slug":"jacksonville-police-officer-shot-on-duty-wins-doj-hometown-hero-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282423\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville police officer shot on duty wins DOJ Hometown Hero Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Texas (KETK<\/a>) \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.<\/p>\n

Community mourning after Upshur County Precinct 4 Constable dies <\/a><\/p>\n

Hand and a Jacksonville PD K-9 were injured while she was serving warrants for a then-wanted fugitive who opened fire<\/a> 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

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo of Elyse Hand, courtesy of U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs\u2019 Office.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney\u00a0Jay\u00a0R.\u00a0Combs\u00a0of the Eastern District of Texas announced Hand as their district\u2019s recipient of the 2026 Hometown Hero Award on Friday. The awards are being given out to law enforcement members around the country this year as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s Freedom250<\/a> initiative for the United States\u2019 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo 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\u00a0Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Collin County<\/a> in Plano, the\u00a0Grayson County Children\u2019s Advocacy Center<\/a> in Sherman, the\u00a0Texarkana Children\u2019s Advocacy Center<\/a> in Texarkana, the\u00a0Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Smith County<\/a> in Tyler,\u00a0Harold\u2019s House East Texas Alliance for Children<\/a>\u00a0in Lufkin and the\u00a0Garth House<\/a> 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.\u00a0We salute Officer Hand and her bravery and wish her a speedy recovery,\u201d Combs\u2019 office said.<\/p>\n

You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24\/7 on your smart TV\u00a0with\u00a0KETK+<\/a>,\u00a0our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite needed\u2014watch for free, anytime.\u00a0Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Texas (KETK) \u2013 Jacksonville Police Department officer Elyse Hand has won the Department of Justice\u2019s 2026 Hometown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[120155,120120,33137,120154,116,118,117,15668,5537,120135],"class_list":["post-282423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-childrens-advocacy-center","tag-eastern-district-of-texas","tag-elyse-hand","tag-hometown-hero","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-police-department","tag-texas","tag-texas-state-trooper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}