Indiana Conservation Officer Dustin Whitehead has been selected the 2021 District 1 Officer of the Year.
Whitehead is assigned to Elkhart County and has been a conservation officer since 2009.
In addition to his normal duties as a field officer, he has served as a public safety diver, defensive tactics/firearms instructor, and field training officer.
District 1 includes Kosciusko, Elkhart, St. Joseph, Marshall, Fulton, Miami, and Wabash counties in north-central Indiana.
The district award puts Whitehead in the running for the Pitzer Award, which is given to the top overall conservation officer in the state and is selected from the 10 district award winners.
The Pitzer Award is named after Conservation Officer James D. Pitzer, who was fatally shot while investigating illegal hunting activity on Jan. 2, 1961, in Jay County.