Allen Litten, a Harrisonburg Police Department auxiliary officer who has captured much of the City of Harrisonburg’s most important moments of the recent past through his powerful, moving photography, was honored last week for 20 years of outstanding service with HPD.
A celebration was held Friday at the Harrisonburg Public Safety Building honoring Allen for his outstanding work and unwavering commitment to HPD and The Friendly City. Allen’s family, numerous law enforcement officers and first responders, city officials and a number of retired HPD members were in attendance to show their appreciation.
“Allen’s commitment to volunteerism is a real testament to the person he is, and how much he cares about our community,” HPD Chief Kelley Warner said. “HPD, and our city as a whole, is lucky to have someone like him preserving our history and helping bring awareness to our community of the important events happening in Harrisonburg that impact us all.”
Allen, whose passion for photography began around 8 years old after receiving his first camera and teaching himself how to take pictures, started his career with HPD in June 2002 after retiring from the Daily News Record after 53 years of distinguished service. The paper hired Allen as a photographer in 1956, but prior to that he had worked in the press room – using his spare time to photograph fires and sell them to the paper, earning a reputation as a dedicated, experienced visual historian of some of the most impactful events happening in the growing city. His career at the DNR earned him multiple awards and honors for his photography
In his 20 years of service at HPD, Allen is well recognized in the community for his presence at crime scenes, community events, traffic crashes, recruitment events and various HPD functions. Allen has spent countless hours volunteering his services and would often listen to the HPD radios and arrive on scene moments later, capturing events as they unfold
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