Hometown Hero: Vandalia Police Officer Brittany Blackford

VANDALIA, Ohio (WKEF) -- Here at Dayton 24/7 Now we wanted to bring back our Hometown Heroes segment.

This is where we highlight a community member who goes above and beyond whether that's a law enforcement officer, teacher, firefighter, member of the U.S. military, or your next door neighbor.

So, our first Hometown Hero since bringing this segment back is Vandalia Police Officer Brittany Blackford.

“So we had an elderly resident who was blocked in his driveway by his Rumpke trash cans, they were embedded in a lot of snow, they had been plowed at the end of the driveway,” said Officer Brittany Blackford, Vandalia Police Department.

You can see in the body camera video that Officer Blackford borrowed a shovel from someone else in the neighborhood and shoveled the man’s driveway so that he could get to his appointment and wouldn’t have trouble getting back into the house when he returned.

What she didn’t know was that a neighbor had posted what she had done for the elderly resident in a Vandalia Facebook group. The post got lots of reactions on social media.

We asked Officer Blackford about that Facebook post, and no surprise, she was beyond humble.

“It means a lot to me that that was recognized but this isn't anything heroic, it was nothing that any of my other fellow officers wouldn't do, we do this kind of stuff all the time,” said Officer Blackford. “We do this, you know, this was just kind of a circumstance where I felt like it was the right thing to do.”

Officer Blackford has been with Vandalia PD for about 10 years and says she loves the community that she serves.

“It's important to me because I get to have a positive impact on the community I serve here in Vandalia, I appreciate all of the opportunities that I get to get out there and protect and serve and make this community a better place,” said Officer Blackford