LEVELLAND, Texas – Many in Levelland are still mourning the loss of Crystal Goforth and Jon Corder, the two animal control officers who died while on the job in October 2022. The pair provided a crucial service that never went unnoticed, but when that all came to an unexpected stop, city leaders said everyone had to step up and help out. 

“As a police officer, we come to work knowing that we might not come home that day,” said Captain Tammie McDonald, ACO supervisor of the Levelland Police Department. “As an animal control officer, I don’t think you think like that.” 

On Oct. 13, 2022, Goforth and Corder were responding to a service call when a tragic car accident occurred. Goforth died at the scene and after a little over two weeks in the ICU at University Medical Center, Corder’s family made the difficult decision to take him off of life support. 

“We have several community events where we all help each other out and Crystal and Jon would be part of that,” McDonald said. “We’re all family. Whether we retire or move on somewhere else, you still stay a family.”

Goforth and Corder were Levelland’s two main animal control officers. Not only was the city grieving the loss of these officers, but they were also left shorthanded.

“We have asked our patrol officers and sergeants to step up and help us take the animal calls, and they have done a tremendously great job in doing so,” McDonald said.

While McDonald is still struggling with the tremendous loss of her officers, she was eager to share that the police department hired two new animal control officers that started work on Tuesday.

“The two people that we did hire started today,” McDonald said. “They were really excited and really ready to join the family.”

McDonald asked the community to be patient with the new hires as they have never been animal control officers before.

“They’re both eager,” McDonald said. “They both said they love animals, and they rolled up their sleeves ready to clean the shelter. If everyone will just have a little bit of patience, we’ll get back up to running full speed and back to where we were at eventually.”