No Average Joe

There are times when we run across people who are always busy finding ways to improve the world around us.
They don't seek glory. Their payoff is knowing they made a difference in their own special way.
Such is the case with Joe Serrano.
He is a small business owner, running Serrano Investigative Services and working as a bail agent for Gotta Go Bail Bonds in Bakersfield.
Maybe it's a good thing I've never had to deal with Serrano under those terms.
But I have partnered and observed him through his board of director's work with the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where he has given his time for community events and supporting local businesses.
In fact, there are a few other community events that I have attended only to turn around and find Serrano there. He's often seen making new friends, getting people involved in local causes or simply taking photographs that land in the Hispanic Chamber's newsletter, his Facebook account or as a citizen journalism submission to local media.
His goal may be to spotlight other people making a difference. But he's just as deserving.
That's why I was happy to hear that his peers picked him as the Private Investigator of the Year.
Serrano received the award by the California Association of Licensed Investigators during its annual conference in Burlingame last month.
The award honors those who have excelled in their profession and demonstrated exceptional service to the public, among other things.
Serrano said he became emotional when he received the award, comparing the feeling to the day his daughter, Sandra, was born in 1972.

“I'm serious, it was an identical feeling,” said Serrano, who also serves on the Lamont Chamber of Commerce board. “It was very hard to hold back the tears of joy and happiness, and all I could do was bury my head into the shoulders of those that came up and congratulated me.”

As a private investigator, Serrano says he's worked a variety of cases, including personal injury cases, murder and vehicle accidents involving wrongful deaths. He's reunited several families.
Some of his cases have required him to travel to other states and in Europe and Mexico.

“I love my job and would not trade it for anything else,” Serrano said.

Bakersfield attorney H.A. Sala who's worked with Serrano on some cases wrote a letter to the association describing the private investigator.
In the letter, Sala praised Serrano for his tenacity and hard work ethic. He added that Serrano was successful in uncovering critical witnesses and physical evidence.
He also noted Serrano's other duties, such as working for the Indigent Defense Panel of Kern County.
Serrano says he was so proud of his award that he placed on top of his wife's pillow while she traveled in Guadalajara.

“It's better than any Oscar or any lottery winning because it comes from people I highly respect and look up to in this profession,” he tells me.

Back to his community work, I expect to see more great things from Serrano. He's not the kind of person who will tell you though. He's just a natural at it.

“I am involved in a bunch of other things in my area and volunteer for a lot of events,” he says. “It does take away from my personal life … and I appreciate my wife, Alma, understanding what I love to do and allowing me to do it.”