Lt. Brock Holt has always known that he wanted to become a law enforcement officer. The desire to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps began when he was only a small boy tagging along with the older man as he went about his duties of working in the police department.

Glen Holt, served the Brewton Police Department for 26 years as its chief. Although he was retired by the time the younger Holt was a little boy, he still passed the tradition onto his grandson.

“My grandfather retired from the police department, but he continued to serve as the director of the chief of police association.” Holt said. “He took me to some of the meetings and when we were together with other officers, I thought it was the coolest thing to be a police officer.”

By the age of 14, Brock Holt had decided that he was going to go into law enforcement. He even had his own ID card.

Now, after having worked for the Brewton Police Department for about 12 years, he recently was given the opportunity to travel to Quantico, Va. to to take part in FBI training.

The FBI National Academy is a program offered to active law enforcement personnel four times a year. It is by invitation only to be able to attend the training. Holt had been waiting for the past two years, when he was given the opportunity earlier this year.

There were 223 law enforcement officers to attend the training.

“They came from 48 states, 18 countries and five military organizations,” Holt said. “I was one of three invited to attend from Alabama and less than one percent of officers are even invited to attend. We were able to talk to other officers from around the country. It’s exciting to know that we bond with each other and the small town of Brewton is on the same level as the City of Los Angeles or New York. I have a whole new group of connections of law enforcement officers. We take what we learn back to our town. The ten-week course gave us the chance to see what other places deal with and let them know how we handle things.”

Holt was born and lived most of his life here. His family moved to Gulf Shores and he graduated from Gulf Shores High School in 2005.

Two years later, he made a call to then police chief, Mickey Lovelace, applying for a job. He worked his way up the ranks to his present position as lieutenant.

He and his wife, Stacey, were married in 2008 and they now have two daughters, Kensley (9) and Aubree (5). His wife is the branch manager of Gulf Winds and the girls are in school.

Holt credits Police Chief Monte McGougin and Assistant Chief Randy Nicholson as being very supportive of him and the other 24 officers who serve Brewton.

“They are very supportive of what we do,” he said.