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