FLEMING ISLAND – Aaron Belt always wanted to be a cop.

He started his career working as a detention officer at a prison “because at the time I was only 19. Most places won’t hire a 19-year-old to come put on a badge and a gun” as a law enforcement officer.

He stayed true to his passion, and he eventually earned the right to carry a badge and gun, progressing from riding on patrols to becoming one of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s top detectives. His work was recognized by readers who submitted their votes during August's Hometown Heroes Award for law enforcement. Belt received the monthly award and a $100 gift card on Friday, Sept. 25, from sponsor IKO Clay Hill at the Clay Today office.

“It’s always been my dream job since I was a kid,” Best said. “Actually, I was going to school in Jacksonville. We had a deputy that came out to our school and talked about his job. He let us in the police car, and I thought it was the coolest thing.

“I'm very grateful for it every day since.”

The son of a military police officer has been with CCSO since October 2020. Most of his work is tedious and thankless, but necessary to solve the most intricate of crimes. Every answer, every clue, leads to five more avenues to investigate.

Belt has seen the best – and the worst – of humanity, far greater than most would ever comprehend. But every resolution leads to both relief for the victims and the rest of society.

That’s why Aaron Belt does that hard work, and why his recognition as a Hometown Hero is so deserving.

“When I originally started with the Clay County Sheriff's office, I started off in patrol,” he said. “I did that for a little bit over a year. After that, I went to our task force unit which we did a lot of proactive police work. We would go out, look for stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, people with warrants and any high property calls that would come out.

“It was a lot of fun police work, and I really enjoyed it. After doing that for a couple years, my wife, she was already in an investigation unit, so I wanted to become a more well-rounded deputy for the sheriff's office. That's when I put in to go into investigations so I could keep building my skill level and eventually one day, hopefully, be able to pass that along to other people.”

Each case is different, but the investigation usually starts by speaking with victims. From there, the case evolves with dead ends and twists until he finds the answers that lead to a conviction.

“A lot of times, the first thing I do is talking with the victim, trying to get everything that the victim can provide me,” Belt said. “From there, I just let the case lead me, whether it's going to see seek out search warrants for different devices and different things like that. I reach out to the community with different to see if there's any other victims involved. It just really depends on what the case is.

“But there's a lot that goes on that people don't know. I mean, you have search warrants for cell phones, residents, vehicles. You have multiple interviews, victims, witnesses, involved others. You start canvassing, going around different neighborhoods, just really reaching out and talking to different people.”

Belt remembers the details of his most memorable case. The facts took him in directions he didn’t expect. Or forget.

“The most recent one where I got a conviction, the guy has been sentenced [to] over 30 years [in] prison,” he said.

He followed up on information involving lewd behavior of a child. By the time his work was completed, Belt found multiple family victims in two states stretching back 20 years. Many of the details were sorted, but he pushed hard to pry the memories of some of the adults who were children at the time of the abuse. He also had to convince them to step out of their darkness to reveal their troubling past.

While solving crimes often requires the use of modern technology, Belt said nothing will replace manually pouring through records, talking with people and checking out every lead.

“It's very tedious at times,” he said.

His wife is also in law enforcement, so there are ways they can decompress that few would understand.

“It's usually just by hanging out with the family, doing different things that helps me,” Belt said. “My kid, she's in softball right now, so we do a lot of softball activities. When you get away from the job, once you're at home, you relax and spend time with the family.”

The rest of the time, Aaron Belt wears his badge and a gun, accumulating the facts needed to solve another crime.