Methuen Police Departments Police officers of the year for 2011
The
Operation Safe Homes Task force
Lieutenant James Jajuga
Sergeant Christian Max
Detective Tracy Connor
Detective Eric DeLeon
Officer Ronald Valliere
Officer Stephen Hatem
Officer Gina Scanlon
In October 2010 there was a disturbing
increase in the number of residential break ins that required a concentrated
effort of highly trained officers to combat.
The Operation Safe Homes Task Force was established and these officers
and detectives were chosen by the executive staff of the police department to
undertake this task. These officers
worked together with exceptional cooperation, coordination and
communication. They worked hand in hand
with officers from all bureaus in the police department. This assignment required the officers to
change their work schedules and work hours and each member of this task force
did so willingly and with enthusiasm and a determination to make a difference. They worked to contact area police
departments and share resources and intelligence.
This unit worked together to accomplish the
following:
- The Creation
of a crime mapping bulletin that was distributed throughout the police department
to aid in the directed patrols of officers into target areas.
- They
researched, designed and distributed home and vehicle safety flyers.
- They
conducted informational distribution points at local malls and stores.
- They
instituted a variety of undercover tactics and patrols.
- They created
a burglary informational questioner to be utilized at the booking of every
prisoner.
- This resulted
in the arrest of house breakers and the recovery of stolen items.
The communication channels that were used by
this task force remained intact after the task force was disbanded. These officers and detectives took what was
learned and continued to make use of these tactics as part of their daily
duties.
I join in with the members of the Methuen
Police Department to congratulate these officers for an exceptional job done
and for a successful cooperative effort between all bureaus of the police
department.
Chief Solomon
Labels: Officer of the year