Thirteen Exceptional Merit Awards, 10 letters of commendation, and four civilian awards were handed out at the West New York Police Department’s awards ceremony Wednesday in the Town Hall court chambers. The department’s first Officer of the Year award was also given during the ceremony.
“We want the officers to know that we appreciate the work that they have done,” said Commissioner of Public Safety Sal Vega.
The awards ceremony is held annually in May to celebrate National Law Enforcement month. Pelliccio announced that nationally, 230 police officers died in 2001, a significant increase from the 154 officers who died in 2000.
“2001 has been the deadliest year in law enforcement history,” said Pelliccio.
An awards committee chaired by Deputy Chief Tom O’Donnell and consisting of seven police officers recommended the award recipients to Director Joseph Pelliccio, who reviewed the list before its final acceptance by Vega.
Exceptional Merit Awards were given to Det. Thomas Mannion, who got three; Police Officer Eric Garcia, who received two awards, and officers Cassius Grasso, Edward Rivera, Denny Acosta, and detectives Edmund Monti and Elio Martinez.
The officers who received letters of commendation during the ceremony were police officers Jose Arroyo, Luis Rivera, Edward Rivera, David Hruska and Daniel Principe; detectives Scott Jeffery, Hugo Sanchez, Elio Martinez and Michael Clement, and Sgt. Joseph Lameiro,
Det. Juan Nunez and Sgt. Santiago Cabrera also received Exceptional Merit Awards, as did Det. Jorge Ramos, police officers Joseph Cocciadiferro, Antonio Del Gado and James Haemmerle, and detectives Jorge Ramos, Juan Laffont, Sergio Herrera and Frank Steffe, although they were not able to attend the ceremony.
Officer of the year
“It just seems like I am doing my job,” said Mannion, the Officer of the Year, explaining that he doesn’t think he was going beyond the call of duty. “I guess they appreciate what we do.”
In April 2001, the West New York Police Department began their Officer of the Month Program. This program recognizes one officer each month who showed exceptional service. Mannion was awarded Officer of the Month in January, 2002 for a narcotics arrest.
“I was kind of shocked,” said Mannion about receiving the award. “There was a lot of good competition.”
Mannion also received three Exceptional Merit Awards during the ceremony. One of these awards was given for his work on Jan. 17. Mannion worked on an investigation that led to the arrest of two individuals and the recovery of more than three kilos of cocaine.
Citizens’ arrest
The West New York Police Department gave four residents awards for assisting the department in making arrests.
“I can’t emphasize how important your help is,” said O’Donnell. “Without your help, we cannot do our job effectively.”
“You are proof that this department responds when you call,” said Mayor Albio Sires.
John Jukic, a pharmacist at the Walgreen’s in West New York who received a civilian award, said that it was a coincidence that he was able to help out. “That guy just came in at the wrong time,” he said.
Jukic was instrumental in the arrest of a man purchasing over the counter drugs with fraudulent prescriptions. Jukic said that he had received a tip from the state police department a few days before the incident about a fraudulent prescription going around under a specific name.
“The minute I heard the name, I called the police department right away,” said Jukic.
The other civilian awards were given to Lillian Cook, Maria Franco and Nereida Sarduy.