Henderson Police present Officer of the Year award

By Rich Coleman

Friday, April 1, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.

Henderson Police honored police officers, civilian employees and citizens Thursday night at an annual commendation ceremony at the City Council chambers.

Among the commendations were Police Officer of the Year, Corrections Officer of the Year, Civilian Employee of the Year, Life Saving Awards and Valorous Conduct Awards.

Forest Shields was named Police Officer of the Year. He was the first officer on scene during an incident on June 7, 2010, in which two people stole a vehicle at gunpoint and tried to ram his patrol vehicle.

Officials said he tried to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the situation and assisted a wounded passenger after another officer shot the armed suspect. Shields also testified at a coroner’s inquest.

Shields has been with the Henderson force for five of his 15 years as a police officer and is assigned to north division.

Receiving the Investigator of the Year award was Detective David Rowlett, a member of the Criminal Apprehension Team Task Force.

Rowlett assisted homicide detectives investigating the slaying of a man whose body was found on Eastern Avenue. After detectives arrested one suspect and had exhausted all their leads in finding a second suspect, Rowlett was called in to help. He pursued alternate leads that led to the second suspect, officials said.

Other awards presented Thursday night:

• Sworn Supervisor of the Year — Sgt. John Gayer.

• Corrections Officer of the Year — David Bishop.

• Civilian Supervisor of the Year — Records administrator Hillary Velado.

• Civilian Employee of the Year — Crime scene analyst Patrick Farrell.

• Valorous Conduct — Officers David Sigmund, Raymond Wilkins, Dan Boskovic, John Longworth, Fred Hutchison, Matthew Brown, Ritch Melchert, Justin Simo, Ed Bogdanowicz, Nick Stier, Marcus Hudson, Brandonn Trotter, Carlos Chorens, David Dawson, Danny Jones, Troy McDermed, Brian Pollard, Patrick Reimann, Wavy Reed, Justin Dera, Michael Corad, Jeff Wiener, Jesse Lujan, Michael Gower, Kevin Scott, Tim Hastie, Jon Morrow, Chris Delacanal, Joe Oberding; retired officer Mike Fundaro; and Sgt. Rob Hart.

• Life Saving Award — James Garst, Brian Griffin, Edward Baker, Jose Marcos Perez; and officers Geoffrey Kesterson, Karl Lippisch, Marc Geiger, David Sigmund and Brody Stokes.

• Exemplary Service Award — Crimes Against Persons Unit: Detectives Felicia Benjamins, Gerry Collins, Michael Condratovich, Joe Ebert, Mark Hosaka, Bud McKay, Chad Mitchell, Anthony Niswonger, Craig Ridings; and Sgt. Dave McKenna.

• Distinguished Service Award — Computer analyst Dan Greene, Planning and Analysis Bureau supervisor Kurt Zimmer and officer Michael Hull.

• Department Unit Citation — Officers Juan Castro, Justin Dera, Michael Corad, Chris Delacanal, Jason Dunn, Kevin Grant, Craig Mancuso, Jeff Melchert, Michael Schmitz, Forest Shields, Troy Starr, Logan Tillmon, Jeff Wiener; and Sgt. Matt Zobrist.

Certificate of Appreciation for Military Service: Officers Tyler Bailey, John Gregg, Norman “Doc” Halliday, Gustavo Leigh, Jack McDonald and Richard Owens.

Certificate of Appreciation — Robert Strehlow, Amy Briggs Lory, Kelly Wilson; law enforcement support specialist Gail Forsyth; communications operators Kaulana Flatt, Katie Mast, Cathy Schell, Aimee Swenberg and Gina Peters; corrections officers Tanya Scharton and Jo Ann Vollmann; Clark County Detention Center corrections Lt. Andrew Peralta; and corrections officers Greg Reeves and Cheryl Whetsel.