Officer Kristopher Moore has been named Vinton Police Officer of the Month for January. He was just introduced to Town Council as a new officer in December 2017 and has already gained recognition from his peers who selected him for the honor.

According to Vinton Police Chief Tom Foster, during January, Officer Moore, just newly released from Field Training, had a total of 12 drug cases out of 43 for the entire department. Seven of those cases resulted in arrests.

“For the month of January, you removed over 70 grams of marijuana, two grams of a white powdery substance, 20 grams of crystal meth, various smoking devices, and five syringes, along with $300 in cash,” said Foster. “The seven arrests included manufacture/selling/distributing, possession of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance. Keep up the great work!”

Moore grew up in southern Oregon where he graduated from high school early to enlist in the United States Navy. After serving four years with numerous deployments for the global war on terrorism, he left the Navy and became a Wildland Forestry firefighter in Oregon.

His next challenge was work as a Department of Defense security contractor serving in Afghanistan. When he returned from overseas, he became a certified law enforcement officer. His wife grew up in Bedford and was ready to settle down in her hometown. That led to Moore serving with the Lynchburg Police before joining the Vinton Police Department.