A series of stories appearing in the Suffolk News-Herald through Sunday highlights some of the most important yet underappreciated people in Suffolk. These five articles highlight the very finest of Suffolk’s finest, as chosen and honored by their peers.

Considering the potential dangers they face every day when they head off to work and the sacrifices they make to help keep the city safe for their neighbors, friends and families, Suffolk police personnel — from the dispatchers on up through the detectives — deserve our continual gratitude. Once a year, however, the police department chooses a small group as being worthy of special recognition, issuing them department-wide awards and publicizing the deeds they’ve done to earn the recognition.

Recognizing how worthy these public servants are of the city’s praise and respect, this year the Suffolk News-Herald is extending the honor by featuring each of those award winners in a brief story on its front page. The series began in yesterday’s paper and will continue through Sunday’s edition.

Be sure to check out yesterday’s account of a dispatcher who talked a man through CPR, helping him save his girlfriend’s life. Look on today’s front page for a feature on one of the members of the PD’s property crimes unit, who says his goals each day are to “help somebody and make it back home.” And don’t forget to check out the other moving stories through Sunday.

The stories remind us that these folks who carry Suffolk Police Department badges are, indeed, our neighbors, family and friends. They’re just normal people — with normal hopes, dreams and even fears — who have a special desire to serve their community. And that’s just what makes so much of what they do heroic.

We salute the five police department members who appear in our paper this week. Even more, we thank all of Suffolk’s finest for the important and often thankless work they do for their city. Suffolk is a better place because of them.