Police Receive Honors

At Awards Ceremony

By Andrew Gorosko

To recognize exceptional and meritorious service, the Newtown Police Department has granted a series of honors and awards to its members.

Among the awards issued recently at ceremonies at Edmond Town Hall were eight honors which mark police officers’ performance through their bravery, merit, service, and commendable acts.

The police department’s Award For Bravery was granted to Officer Jeffrey Silver. Mr Silver, 32, has been a police officer for 11 years. He is the police department’s commercial truck inspector.

The award presented to Mr Silver describes his actions during a tense situation in August 2008.

Mr Silver responded to a call that involved a young man holding his parents at knife-point within the family’s home. The suspect was known to have a history of mental instability and violent tendencies.

Mr Silver and other police officers formulated a plan to resolve the crisis. Mr Silver quietly entered the house unnoticed, and found that the suspect was armed with a 12-inch knife and also was blocking a door to his parents’ bedroom.

Mr Silver snuck up behind the suspect and grabbed control of his knife-hand while simultaneously using a Taser electronic stun device to stun the man in the back.

The suspect resisted being controlled and engaged police in a brief struggle.

Mr Silver and other officers were then able to subdue and handcuff the man without injury.

“Officer Silver’s composure, decisiveness, and above-all bravery in this highly stressful and dangerous situation brought about a successful conclusion to this incident,” according to police.

The police department issued its Award For Merit to Detective Jason Frank, 39, who has been a police officer for 14 years.

In October 2007, Mr Frank was assigned to investigate the theft of ten handguns from a local home. Within two weeks, Mr Frank tracked down the suspect, obtained a written confession, found nearly all of the missing handguns and sought an arrest warrant in the case.

Police charged the suspect with multiple felonies for firearms theft. The suspect also was charged with interfering with police for providing false information.

“Detective Frank’s drive determination, investigative prowess, and speed at which he worked resulted in the successful prosecution of this crime and the recovery of the stolen weapons. His actions prevented these weapons from being used not only to commit more crimes but from possibly harming someone,” according to police.

Also, the police department issued the Commissioners’ Service Awards to Sergeant Philip Hynes IV, 39, and to Officer Silver. Mr Hynes has been a police officer for 15 years.

Starting in May 2007, the police department held annual “Simuntions” training for the entire police department. The training employs firearms that shoot “chalk bullets” that mark individuals when they are struck by the projectiles.

Mr Hynes and Mr Silver researched the weapons training system, purchased the equipment, prepared lesson plans, and then planned and conducted the training sessions.

“This training offers Newtown police officers the most current and realistic training in the area of ‘decision shooting’ and gives them a significant tactical advantage should they ever find themselves in a deadly force situation,” according to police.

The town police department is one of the first police departments in the area to employ such training, police said.

Police issued a Certificate of Commendation to Officer Steven Santucci, 33, who has been a police officer for nearly a decade.

In January 2009, Mr Santucci was assigned as the lead investigator for a vandalism case in which unknown people had caused more than $26,000 0f damage to the Highland Plaza property at 123 South Main Street.

Mr Santucci compared evidence provided by surveillance cameras at that site and from a business at the town center and identified suspects in the case who were wearing similar clothing. After gaining positive identifications on the two male suspects, Mr Santucci received a written confession from one the suspects and obtained an arrest warrant.

Both suspects were arrested on felony charges, after which restitution was ordered, according to police.

Officer Andrew Stinson, received a Certificate of Commendation stemming from an incident that occurred in Watertown. Officer Stinson, 33, joined the police department nearly nine years ago.

While driving through Watertown in his marked police car in February 2008, the officer noticed a male running across the street who was being chased by an employee of a nearby office supplies store. Another store employee informed Mr Stinson that the fleeing man had just stolen a computer from the store.

On joining the chase, Mr Stinson saw the store employee struggling with the suspect. Mr Stinson detained the suspect until Watertown police arrived.

The suspect later was charged with theft and drug possession, and also confessed to the theft of computers from other office supplies stores, according to police.

Local Investigations

In October 2006, Detective Michael McGowan started a comprehensive investigation into the business dealings of the proprietors of the Newtown Oil Company. Three years earlier, the firm had gone out of business after scamming hundreds of home heating fuel customers out of an estimated $700,000.

Mr McGowan interviewed many victims and witnesses, examined hundreds of financial documents, identified banks that were holding hidden money, and eventually obtained arrest warrants for the proprietors on multiple felony charges, including larcenies and racketeering, according to police.

After the proprietors pleaded guilty to charges, a judge ordered full restitution to the victims.

Mr McGowan, 37, became a police officer almost ten years ago.

Also, Mr Frank received a Certificate of Commendation.

In late 2005, Mr Frank started investigating allegations that a Newtown physician was improperly prescribing drugs to his patients.

Pharmacists, patients, and the families of patients had complained to police that the doctor freely prescribed addictive narcotics to patients without proper medical evaluations, which caused some patients to become addicted and even resulted in death, according to police.

Mr Frank’s investigation involved undercover work and the use of confidential informants, plus teamwork with many outside agencies.

The doctor ultimately was forced to surrender his state medical license to prescribe drugs and a federal forfeiture action was placed on his office property.

Goosman Memorial Award

At the awards ceremony, police also presented the Anita M. Goosman Memorial Award to Judy Blanchard.

In the award, police state that as the district health coordinator for the town school system and as a longtime member of both the Newtown Prevention Council and the Juvenile Review Board, Ms Blanchard has been instrumental in guiding, supporting, and collaborating with school-based police officers in their work to keep the young people of the community safe.

Ms Blanchard’s work has exceeded the call of duty and has aided the work of the police department, according to the award.

At the ceremonies, police also issued awards to many other officers based on their years of service at the police department, educational achievement, and military service.