Lieutenant Joseph Sealey Jr. and Detective Sergeant Herbert Williams were honored last week with the Advanced Deputy Professional Law Enforcement Certificate by the North Carolina Education and Training Standards Commission.

To qualify for the Advanced Deputy Professional Law Enforcement Certificate, sheriff's and deputy sheriff's must complete a combination of professional training and relevant education, as well as meet minimum experience requirements.

(To see the full requirements visit this link and read the advanced deputy requirements)

“I'm proud of their achievements and hard work to get the certificate,” Sheriff Wes Tripp said today.

Sealey, right, with Tripp.

Sealey has been with the sheriff's since 2006, starting as a deputy and working his way up to lieutenant of investigations.

“It's an excellent achievement and realization of goals that began at the start of my law enforcement career,” Sealey said this afternoon.

Williams, right, with Tripp.

Williams started his law enforcement career in 1993 at the county detention center was put on the road as a deputy in 1996. In 1999 he joined the Enfield Police Department, working there for a year; put in seven years with the Kill Devil Hills Police Department, before going to Henderson for a year and a half and spending a year in Littleton. He came back to the sheriff's office in 2010.

For Williams, the honor, “Means we've dedicated and spent a lot of time to better educate our ourselves to better do this job.”

The commission was established in September, 1983 and its purpose is to upgrade the capabilities, competence, and proficiency of sheriffs’ departmental personnel through programs, standards, and procedures involving employment, improvement, career development, and retention of the sheriffs’ office personnel. The commission currently maintains certification files on more than 25,000 deputy sheriffs, detention officers and telecommunicators.