Held on May 12 during National Police Week, this year’s Top Cops awards ceremony honored law enforcement officers from Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and Virginia, Rhode Island, and Tennessee who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Since the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) launched the awards program in 1994, the TOP COPS Awards have paid tribute to outstanding law enforcement officers across the country for actions above and beyond the call of duty. TOP COPS awardees are nominated by their fellow officers for outstanding service during the preceding calendar year.

The TOP COPS are selected by an awards selection committee comprised of national law enforcement representatives who choose one TOP COPS case from each state and U.S. territory. The cases are then ranked and the top 10 case winners are flown to Washington, D.C. for the awards ceremony. The awards show features a three-minute videotape of each TOP COP and his or her story.

The TOP COPS Awards are attended by celebrities, politicians, members of the national law enforcement community, corporate donors and other interested individuals.

This year’s award recipients, in alphabetical order by state, included:

Alabama Mobile Alabama Police Department Officer John Angle

California Los Angeles Police Department Officer II Trevor S. Jackson Officer II Osbaldo “Ozzie” Ramos Officer II Richard Ramos Officer III Charles T. Wunder

Illinois Chicago Police Department Sergeant Richard Plotke, Jr. Morton Grove Police Department Sergeant Brian Fennelly Detective Robert B. Zielinski

Kentucky Lexington Division of Police Detective Ann L. Gutierrez

Massachusetts Boston Police - Area A-1 Officer Ebenezer “Ben” Sealy Officer Al Young

Michigan Battle Creek Police Department Detective Gregory T. Huggett

New York New York Police Department Officer Lisa J. Murphy

Rhode Island East Providence Police Investigator Karl R. Jacobson Providence Police Department Investigator Joseph A. Colanduono Investigator Robert M. Enright Lieutenant Thomas A. Verdi

Tennessee Tennessee Highway Patrol Sergeant Paul L. Mooneyham

Virginia Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent John Forkin Norfolk Police Department Investigator Judy O. Hash Investigator Earl S. Killmon Northampton County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Sheldon Skinner North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Kevin McGinnis

For more information about the Top Cops awards and nomination forms, visit www.napo.org.