The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office held its annual awards ceremony Tuesday night, with lots of honors handed out, new deputies sworn in, and of course, Sheriff Steve Boyer name-dropping his law enforcement alma matter, the Washington State Patrol, on numerous occasions.
Boyer, wearing a portable microphone, walked about the stage all night in that usual gregarious and cordial way he has about him.
It’s safe to say Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Aman left the ceremony the most handsomely of all.
Aman (pictured with Boyer), chosen by his fellow personnel as the deputy of the year, walked away from the Christian Life Center in Port Orchard with not only a plaque, but the keys to a brand new 2007 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
I’ll be honest with you: the person who gets to inherit his old patrol car — if it’s passed on — will be lucky as well.
Why? In all my ride-alongs with area police, I have never seen a patrol car as immaculately clean as his.
Aman works as a traffic deputy and specializes in collision and
crime scene reconstruction. There is a lot of math involved in
that, which — gasp! — he told me he likes.
He once showed me a collision investigation, including pages of mathematical formulas I hadn’t seen since high school — if at all. What he does is thorough, complex, and very impressive work.
On stage with the sheriff Tuesday, he shrugged off the individual honor as a team effort.
“It’s not me,” the 13-year veteran deputy said. “It’s a group that does this.”
Here’s a (rather lengthy) run-down of others honored:
Awarded the Kitsap County Corrections Officer of the Year was KaeCee Coates. Coates joined the sheriff’s office in December 2003 and “has a solid reputation for her ability to perform well at any task within the jail,” said Kitsap County Undersheriff Dennis Bonneville at the ceremony.
Awarded Support Services Specialist of the Year was Christie Christman. She began with the sheriff’s office in February 2005 and has become the “front desk face,” of the office, Bonneville said.
Sheriff’s detective Roger Howerton (pictured), when being honored for his 25 years in the office, announced his retirement.
The ceremony included a speech by state Attorney General’s Office Chief Deputy Brian Moran (pictured), a former Kitsap County deputy prosecutor and current county resident. Moran, who has tried cases in all of Washington’s 39 counties, said he’s “yet to find one at (Kitsap’s) level.”
Several commendations were awarded were deputies on patrol. Remember that guy on Menzies Road in South Kitsap last May that shot at deputies before barricading himself in a trailer? Deputies Troy Graunke, Marc Malloque, Jon VanGesen, Brad Walthall and state trooper David Huibregtse were commended for their efforts in bringing that situation to a peaceful resolution (the four deputies are pictured).
The sheriff’s “lifesaving” awards were given to Deputy Aaron Logdahl and Deputies Mike Grant and Ron Zude in separate incidents in which they may well have saved the lives of “suicidal subjects.”
Volunteers were awarded at the ceremony as well, including reserve deputy Joe Palazzolo, and Mike Lovejoy.
Numerous cops were honored for helping raise $7,000 for Special Olympics at the office’s annual “Tip-A-Cop” night at the Silverdale Red Robin, but none so much as Deputy Tiffany Dobbins, who organized the entire event.
Deputies Kurtis Lont, Greg Rice and Marc Malloque were recognized by Chief of Patrol Gary Simpson for their efforts in apprehending a fugitive last August.
Four new deputies were sworn into service: Will Sapp, Shane Hansen, Gerald Swayze and Brittany Gray. Sapp, Swayze and Hansen are pictured.
The Kitsap County Corrections Division — which we know is hiring due to increased jail space — swore in eight new officers: Sean Chapman, Meaghan Gardner-Brown, Daniel Landeros, Joseph Norton, Pascual Rocha, Michael Turson, Savouth Uch and Cory Webster.
The Washington Law Enforcement Explorer Advisers also named the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Cadets of Explorer Post 1514 as the post of the year for 2006.
And I want to also mention two volunteers — Kurt Corey and Ray Goforth — who on Citizens on Patrol have logged more than 4,000 hours of volunteer time.
