Southington Police Officer Wins American Legion Officer Of The Year

From the Southington Police Department: On Monday May 29, 2017 Officer Mark Dibattista was honored by the Southington American Legion Post 72 as their police officer of the year. Legion officials presented Officer Dibattista with his award during the ceremony held at the conclusion of the Memorial Day Parade.

Officer Dibattista started his law enforcement career with the Hartford Police Department in 2003. In 2006 he left the Hartford Police Department and took a position with the Southington Police Department. Officer Dibattista has served the department and the community in an exemplary fashion.

Officer Dibattista is a department field training officer tasked with training and developing new recruits in the tasks and responsibilities required to effectively perform the duties of a Southington Police Officer.

He is the Departmental lead in the newly implemented L.E.A.P.S program. L.E.A.P.S is a community outreach program designed to provide resources, information and education to individuals battling heroin addiction and their families.

Dibattista saw the need to assist citizens he came in contact with on patrol who lacked adequate food and clothing or who were having housing issues. In an effort to assist these folks in need, Officer Dibattista collaborated with local community groups such as Bread for Life, STEPS and the Main Street Community foundation to start a program where our officers have access to emergency kits. The kits contain food stuffs, emergency blankets and contact information for service organizations in town to further assist them in the long term.

Officer Dibattista’ s commitment and dedication to serving the public was the primary reason he was selected as the American Legion officer of the year.

Photo courtesy of the Southington Police Department