Photos: LMPD Officers, Volunteers Honored at Awards Ceremony

The La Mesa Police Department held their 2013 Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 18, honoring dozens of officers and department volunteers for their tireless work over the last two years, and celebrating some of the city's most heroic public servants. 

Nearly the entire police department was in attendance, and were joined by Mayor Art Madrid, city councilmembers Kristine Alessio and Ernie Ewin, various city staffers, Heartland Fire Chief Rick Sitta, and countless friends and family of honored officers.

"These awards are our chance to honor the tremendous work that the police department has done, and to recognize those dedicated officers who have gone above and beyond what they are called to do," said La Mesa Police Chief Ed Aceves. "There are countless officers who have done excellent work, and unfortunately we cannot honor them all. But as you can see, we've had employees do some incredible things over the last two years."

Every two years the La Mesa Police Department publicly recognizes members of the department for their accomplishments and outstanding efforts.

Detective Dale Perry was named Officer of the Year for 2011, for his work as the sole robbery detective at the department. In the midst of a dramatic rise in the number of robberies, Perry was undeterred, and was able to close 25 percent more cases than in the previous year.

Officer Derek Cox was named Officer of the Year for 2012. Cox, who works in the department's K-9 unit, earned his sixth "10851 Award Pin" from the California Highway Patrol, for his work in stolen vehicle recovery. Cox is only the second officer in the history of the department to earn six 10851 pins.

Five other LMPD officers received their 10851 pins.

A Medal of Distinguished Service was given to reserve officer Tim Tarbuk, who has been with the department for more than 30 years, logging more than 20,000 hours of service time, all without being paid.

Six officers were given the Medal of Meritorious Conduct for their roles in keeping neighbors safe in Aug. 2011, when a man armed with rifle was prowling Pine Street following a reported domestic incident.

Sergeant Bret Richards, and officers Scott Hildebrand, Scott Dreyer, Marcus Patrick, Tim Purdy, Scott Wulfing and Rodolfo Salazar were all exhonerated a year ago for their roles in the death of Andrew Yacko, who it was reported racked and aimed the rifle at the officers, before taking multiple shots from the officers.

La Mesa Today quoted Yacko's brother Michael as saying: “I don't blame the police; they did what they had to do. He was a good kid. He just made a mistake.”

Sgt. Michael Pierce was also given a Medal of Meritorious Conduct for his role in a Feb. 2013 incident, when he jumped in front of a charging K-9 dog, to protect his fellow officers. The dog big Pierce on the arm, giving him three gashes.

Aceves gave a big thanks to the El Cajon Police Department as well, as they provided security patrols for the city, so that LMPD officers could attend the ceremony.

News10 anchor and reporter Itica Milanes served as the event's master of ceremonies.