Among the 2021 public service heroes honored at this year’s “Heroes Appreciation Luncheon” sponsored by the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce was Officer Gabriel “Gabe” Barreras, a deputy now closing on his first decade of service with the Department.
At the event held earlier this year, Chairwoman Nesi Stewart said she was excited that the 2nd annual event could resume to acknowledge “our community heroes.” Barreras was among a group of first responders and public service professionals honored by the Chamber.
In presenting Barreras, Capt. Gary Knutson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said he joined the department in 2012. “After graduating the Academy, he was worked in several departments before being transferred to the bureau that provides patrol service to all of the unincorporated areas of Orange County.
“It’s a very expansive area,” said Knutson.
Over the past year, Deputy Barreras has been providing patrol services to unincorporated Anaheim, Midway City and Rossmoor. Gabriel serves as a Field Training Officer for the bureau, where he is entrusted in the training and development of deputy sheriffs newly assigned to patrol operations. He has accumulated over two thousand training hours and was recently selected to be a Master Field Training Officer for the Sheriff’s Department.
Nevertheless, he said Barreras “take a very proactive approach to his patrol duties. “He (Barreras) is very active, and he’s not the type of guy that is not flashy. He just comes in and goes to work,” said Knutson.
“He is the kind of the quiet type that you want out there taking care of business on a day-to-day basis,” he added.
Barreras, said Knutson, “has proven himself to be patient, conscientious and thorough. He accumulated over 2,000 training hours and was recently selected by our field training bureau to be a master and field training officer, allowing him to be trained to patrol anywhere and become part of our patrol operations command.”
“Deputy Barreras takes a proactive approach to his patrol duties and training. He has conducted hundreds of criminal investigations mostly stemming from self-initiated traffic stops, which have resulted in numerous arrests for weapons violations, narcotics violations, identity theft/fraud violations being in possession of stolen property, and warrant arrests,” he said.
Barreras and his wife Kim, have been together for eleven years and have two children, Kiera (8), and Gabriel (4). In his free time, he enjoys training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has competed in nationally recognized grappling tournaments (IBJJF).
Deputy Barreras has proven to be a true asset not only to the Sheriff’s Department but to the communities he serves, said Knutson before presenting him with the award.