One of the most terrorizing things about terrorism is that one never knows when or where it will strike.

Victims could be anywhere. On the subway, on an airplane, on a bike path. At work in a federal office building or in a skyscraper. Having fun at a sporting event or music concert or nightclub. Or maybe even attending church.

But thanks to the work of antiterrorism law enforcement officers, many people will go about their lives as normal on a day that may have otherwise turned into a disaster. And they’ll never know what day that might have been.

One of those law enforcement officers working in antiterrorism is a member of our very own Suffolk Police Department, and she was recently honored as the city’s Top Cop during the Hampton Roads Crime Line Dinner and Top Cop Awards, held in Suffolk on Nov. 4.

Detective Rachelann Cain has been working for the department since 2009 and is a member of the FBI’s counterterrorism task force. The Tennessee native was inspired to become a police officer by her uncle, who was also a police officer in Florida.

Cain said it’s her ultimate goal to stop a crime before it occurs, and she very likely has done so during her time in the police department, especially with the counterterrorism task force.

Her dedication to her job is second to none, indicated by the fact that she turned around and came back to Suffolk last December to work on a case that netted a high-profile arrest of a local man who was accused of attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The man owned firearms and had been planning an attack on U.S. soil, according to a city press release. He has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Cain worked more than 300 hours of overtime during that investigation alone, and it obviously paid off.

The contributions Detective Cain has made to her city, state and nation cannot be overstated or even quantified, and she was an excellent choice for the city’s Top Cop.