JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Multiple members of the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office received Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer Awards from the State Attorney\u2019s Office for the 4th Judicial Circuit. The awards recognize officers and detectives for work spanning violent crime investigations, major fraud inquiries, bravery under fire and leadership in specialized community units.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to the State Attorney\u2019s Office 4th Judicial Circuit for recognizing our officers and their dedication to seeking justice,\u201d the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Officer Luis Mercado was awarded the Bravery Award after being wounded during an incident in July 2025. Mercado returned fire after an armed robbery suspect shot him in the leg. \u201cDespite this setback, Mercado is back on duty working as a detective,\u201d the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n Awards were also presented for major homicide investigations in the city. Detective Christopher Drabek received the Investigative Excellence Award for his work investigating the 2025 murder of 7-year-old Breon Allen<\/a>. \u201cThis in-depth investigation led to six arrests,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Office said. <\/p>\n Additionally, Sgt. Christopher Smith and Detective David Ostertag received the Prosecutorial Award for investigating the 2020 murder of Charles McCormick. \u201cTheir hard work helped secure guilty verdicts for two gang members,\u201d the department noted.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Financial crime investigations were recognized with the State Attorney Award, which went to Detective April Cobb. Cobb investigated a jury duty scam in which a victim lost thousands of dollars. \u201cDetective Cobb held the scammers accountable,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Office stated.<\/p>\n Leadership Awards were given to officers directing specialized enforcement divisions. Lt. Jason Moore received a Leadership Award for leading the Community Problem Response Unit, which targets guns and drugs in the area. \u201cOur CPR Unit made more than 1,300 felony arrests in 2025, seizing guns and drugs,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n Leadership Awards were also presented to Sgt. Jordan Busque and Sgt. Kayla Cruz for overseeing the Overdose Investigations Unit. Their teams of detectives helped lower drug deaths in the region. \u201cTheir hard work leading teams of detectives contributed to a 25% drop in overdose deaths in 2025 versus 2024,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Multiple members of the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office received Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer Awards from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,116,351,118,117,1415,169192,349,169190,350,169189,169191,346,345],"class_list":["post-430960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-sheriffs-office","tag-major-fraud-inquiries","tag-northeast-florida","tag-outstanding-law-enforcement-officer-awards","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-state-attorneys-office-for-the-4th-judicial-circuit","tag-violent-crime-investigations","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430960","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=430960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}