UWPD honors 17 with awards

The UW Police Department has honored the 17 members of the university’s Crisis Communication Committee with Chief’s Awards for their efforts to improve the way the campus communicates with the university community during a crisis, enhancing the safety of employees and students.

The committee dealt with mass text-messaging via WiscAlerts, Reverse 911, mass e-mail, a call center and voice mail.

The honorees included: Neil Mack, Catie Isenberg, Rhonda Thomson, Terri Kopish, Jamie Buchanan, Dave Janda, Ron Kraemer, Perry Brunelli, Bob Mayville, Joe Tarter, Jon Miner, Jeff Crucius, Jay Sundu, and Kolleen Apelgren, all from the Division of Information Technology; Steve Coombs of the UW Survey Center; associate dean of students Kevin Helmkamp; and John Lucas of University Communications.

Mary Beth Ellis, building manager at the Sewell Social Science Building, received a Chief’s Award for working with security officer Heather Ward to get 13 old doors in the building replaced with new ones that provide greater security.

Another recipient was custodian Royce Walker, who helped police apprehend the suspect in last July’s Badger Credit Union robbery.

Armando Ascosta received a Chief’s Award for tipping police off about an armed man who had fallen in front of a campus area bar and who had numerous items of missing property in his backpack.

Community Service awards went to:

• Police officers John Deering and Robert Glejf, who were instrumental in implementing the “Bait Bike” program that has brought national attention to the department and resulted in a 30 percent decrease in bicycle thefts on campus.
• Retired Police Capt. Deborah Hettrick, Lt. Ben Newman, Sgt. Tamara Kowalski and Officer Erik Pearce for their work on the “Avenger Violence, Threat Assessment and Preventing Mass Casualty Shootings in a Campus Setting” report, training and video. The video is now being distributed throughout the United States.

Security Officer Gordon Simle received a Lifesaving Award for saving an infant from choking to death in a New York City restaurant. Simle was on vacation at the time.

Police officers Cherise Caradine, Michael Eckhardt and Michael Mansavage received Lifesaving awards for helping revive a 20-year-old pulseless nonbreather at Adams Hall.

Several UWPD staff members, including K9 team members Shane Driscoll, Jason Whitney and their canine partners Rex and Mosely, received awards for excellent service.