Attorney General's Awards for Distinguished Service in Policing

U.S. Attorney General's Distinguished Service Awards
Field Operations Criminal Investigation Community Policing Innovations
Awarded for	Exceptional efforts in effective policing
Sponsored by	U.S. Attorney General (Department of Justice)
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The Attorney General's Awards for Distinguished Service in Policing recognize individual or teams of local, state, Tribal or territorial law enforcement officers for exceptional and effective policing. The awards have been presented since 2016 by the U.S. Attorney General in Washington, D.C. at the Great Hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department Building. ^[1] The awards are given in three categories: Field Operations, Criminal Investigations and Exemplary Community Involvement to rank-and-file law enforcement officers in non-supervisory positions.

Description

The awards all follow a similar design from the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry and include a formal medallion on a neck ribbon and a ribbon award for uniform wear. ^[2] The awards are a gold seven-pointed star that is similar to many police badges with either a green (field operations), purple, (criminal investigation) or blue (community policing) outline with the seal of the Department of Justice in the center. Above the star is a golden representation of the statue of Lady Justice surrounded by a wreath connecting it to the ribbon. The reverse of the medallion is engraved with "U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE" in a circle and "FOR DISTINGUISHED SERICE IN" and then the category for the award. The uniform wear ribbon is the same ribbon with a smaller representation of the star on it.

Recipients

2024-2025

Criminal Investigations

• Detective Matthew Newbold, Polk County Sheriff's Office (Florida) ^[3]
• Detective Liz Grant, Kennewick Police Department (Washington) ^[4]
• Detective Tyler Norman, Salt Lake City Police Department (Utah) ^[5]
• Police Officer Reece Walno, Spearfish Police Department (South Dakota) ^[6]

Field Operations

• Deputy Sheriff Jahmar Robinson, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (Florida) ^[7]
• Lance Corporal Justin Boyd, Columbia Police Department (South Carolina) ^[8]
• Detective / Community Policing Officer Stephen Leacroy, La Marque Police Department (Texas) ^[9]

Innovations in Community Policing

• Corporal Adrian Maldonado, Deputy James Mackey, Deputy Jason Coker, Deputy Tammy Fox, and Deputy Yanick Exceus, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (Florida)
• Detective Edwin Hugh and Police Officer Thomas Joy, Suffolk County Police Department (New York) ^[10]
• Officer Wesley Griffith and Officer Bill Koehn, Overland Park Police Department (Kansas) ^[11]
• Master Police Officer Thomas Rodriquez, Manassas City Police Department (Virginia) ^[12]
• Master Police Officer Shauna Moller, Manassas City Police Department (Virginia) ^[12]

2022-2023

Criminal Investigations

• Sergeant David A. Benjamin, Norfolk Police Department (Virginia) ^[13]
• Detective Christopher Crawford, Maine State Police Department ^[14]
• Detective Kimberly Laster and Detective Maria Llovio, Sarasota Police Department (Florida) ^[15]
• Detective Erik Whitlock, North Richland Hills Police Department (Texas) ^[16]
• Detective Ezekiel Sisneros, Monte Vista Police Department (Colorado) ^[17]

Field Operations

• Officer Pedram Farhang, Oakland Police Department (California) ^[18]
• Deputy Tanya Garcia and Deputy Esteban Hernandez, Harris County Sheriff's Office (Texas) ^[19]
• Patrolman First Class Demetrius Amos and Patrolman First Class Mackenzie Handel, Pocatello Police Department (Idaho) ^[20]
• Officer Sheena Shelton, Forest Park Police Department (Georgia) ^[18]
• Officer Marc Navarro, Los Alamitos Police Department (California) ^[21]

Innovations in Community Policing

• Officer Grace Albritton, St. Petersburg Police Department (Florida) ^[22]
• Officer Jimmy Pittmann II, Oakland Police Department (California) ^[23]
• Officer Yessenia Diaz, Miramar Police Department (Florida) ^[24]
• Officer Henni Hamby, Tallahassee Police Department (Florida) ^[25]
• Officer Michael Peale, Broken Arrow Police Department (Oklahoma) ^[26]
• Patrol Officer Heather M. McClelland, Groton Police Department (Connecticut) ^[27]

2020-2021

Criminal Investigations

• Sergeant Kurt Berardino and Sergeant Christopher Perez, Miami-Dade (Florida) Police Department ^[28]
• Detective Victor Powell* and Detective Jonathan Smith, Norfolk (Virginia) Police Department ^[29]
• Detective Ben Pender, Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (Utah) ^[30]
• Detective-Sergeant Jeffrey Araujo and Major Christopher Reed, Central Falls (Rhode Island) Police Department ^[31]

Field Operations

• Deputy Sarah Merriman, Richland County (South Carolina) Sheriff's Department ^[32]
• Officer Kristen Schmidt, Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau ^[33]
• Officer Travis Allen and Officer Brendan Fowler, Irving (Texas) Police Department ^[34]
• Officer Cody Hubbard, Pottsville (Arkansas) Police Department ^[35]

Innovations in Community Policing

• Detective Latosha Prather, Detective Khary Ricketts, and Detective Dan-nae Webber, DeKalb County (Georgia) Police Department ^[36]
• Deputy Sheriff Joseph Angelico, Martin County (Florida) Sheriff's Office ^[37]
• Officer Tom Hart, Walpole (Massachusetts) Police Department ^[38]
• Officer Danielle St. Peter, Barnstable (Massachusetts) Police Department ^[38]
• Officer Tamrah Stepien, East Windsor (Connecticut) Police Department ^[39]

2019-2020

Criminal Investigations

• Detective Kenneth Williams of the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC
• Special Agent Ryan Kedley of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Iowa
• Detective Bryan Bennett, Detective Ty Deichert, Detective Fred Longobricco, and Detective Ian Ranshaw of the Thornton Police Department, Colorado
• Detective Ryan Flood of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office, Officer Vance Henning Jr. and Investigator Denny Vokes of the Fond du Lac Police Department, Wisconsin

Field Operations

• Officer Sherrelle Mitchell and Officer Felix Rivera of the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania
• Officer Natalie Eucce and Corporal Seay-Peter Floyd of the Fayetteville Police Department, Arkansas
• Sergeant Jason Thien of the Curry County Sheriff's Office, Oregon

Innovations in Community Policing

• Officer James Bryant, Detective Traves Humpherys, Officer Darling Mapes, Officer Strahinja Pavlovic, Detective David Shive, and Officer Luis Vidal of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
• Officer Philip Smith of the Evansville Police Department, Indiana
• Officer Sally Landrum of the Willingboro Police Department, New Jersey
• Detective Archie Lidey of the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety, Oregon

2018-2019

Criminal Investigations

• Detective William Maldonado of the Suffolk County Police Department, New York
• Detectives George Duarte and Jeffrey Richards of the Providence Police Department, Rhode Island
• Detectives Sandra Marquez and Kenneth Sealy of the Aventura Police Department, Florida

Field Operations

• Officers Evan Jurgensen, Nicholas Kelly, Rachel Mynier, and John Yenchak of the Prince William County Police Department, Virginia
• Deputy Richard Hassna of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, California
• Deputy Ross Jessop of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office, Montana
• Officers Aaron Bates and Alexander Stotik of the Cohasset Police Department, Massachusetts

Innovations in Community Policing

• Officers Phalon McFate of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
• Officer Jesse Guardiola of the Tulsa Police Department, Oklahoma
• Detective Anthony Roberson of the Providence Police Department, Rhode Island
• Officer Jonathan Plunkett of the Irving Police Department, Texas
• Detective Kathleen Lucero of the Isleta Tribal Police Department, New Mexico
• Officer Troy Quick of the Conyers Police Department, Georgia

2017-2018

Criminal Investigations

• Officer Megan Freer of the Middleton Township Police Department, Pennsylvania
• Detective Andrew Beuschel Jr. of the Evesham Township Police Department, New Jersey  
• Trooper Joel D. Follmer of the Pennsylvania State Police

Field Operations

• Sergeant Girard Tell III and Sergeant Ryan VanSyckle of the Pleasantville Police Department, New Jersey
• Deputy Ned Nemeth of the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, Nevada
• Detective Thomas Curley of the Wilmington Police Department, Delaware
• Officers Jeremiah Beason, Patrick Burke, Monty Fetherston, and Steve Morris Jr. of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
• Officers Jose Arriaga, Ruben Avalos, Carlos Escobar, Randy Jreisat, Arthur Meza, Ashley Mitchell, David Nick Jr., Adrian Nunez, Christian Salas, and Solly Samara of the Los Angeles Police Department, California

Innovations in Community Policing

• Sergeant Sean Crotty of the Little Egg Harbor Police Department, New Jersey
• Detective John Rastetter of the Canton Police Department, Ohio
• Officer Laurie Reyes of the Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland

2016-2017

Criminal Investigations

• Detective Jessie Gonzales of the Tohono O’odham Police Department, Arizona
• Detectives Adam Beha and Joseph Milewczik of the Chesapeake Police Department, Virginia
• Senior Officer Kimberly Miller of the Houston Police Department, Texas

Field Operations

• Detective Greg Felton of the Glenn County Sheriff's Office, California
• Officer Bennie L. Evans of the Alexandria Police Department, Virginia
• Officer JoAnn Walker of the San Francisco Police Department, California

Innovations in Community Policing

• Officers Andy Dobbins and Curt Vajgrt of the Urbandale Police Department, Iowa
• Sergeant Audrey Mazzuca of the Gainesville Police Department, Florida
• Community Liaison Officers Lawrence E. Geis and Scott B. Clinger of the Columbus Division of Police, Ohio

References

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2. "Attorney General's Distinquished Service Award - Criminal Investigation". tioh.army.mil. Archived from the original on 2025-09-07. Retrieved 2025-12-07.
3. Staff, FOX 13 News (2023-10-16). "Cold case cracked: Technology helps solve 1986 homicide of Polk County nurse, deputies say". FOX 13 News. Retrieved 2025-12-07.
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