The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) has honored some of the nation's bravest and most dedicated officers through its Officer of the Month program. Officers of the month are nominated by their supervisors, and then the nominees are reviewed by the NLEOMF staff. Nominations that make the cut receive consideration from a select committee of NLEOMF board members. Last year POLICE Magazine became official media sponsor for the Officer of the Month program. We have been publishing detailed stories of the officers who have received this honor in print, since June 2010. View this gallery for photos and capsule summaries of the honorees.
NLEOMF's Officers of the Month
July 2010: Arriving before firefighters at a house fire, Cpl. Christopher Sturgeon (pictured) and Officer Trent Ginn went into the burning home and rescued a trapped woman. Following her screams, Sturgeon crawled along the floor to stay below the thick smoke that permeated the house as he searched for and found the woman. Ginn helped retrieve her from the house. Both officers were treated for smoke inhalation at a local hospital. The woman recovered fully.
December 2010: U.S. Capitol Police officer Eddie Thornton had just finished his shift and was in his street clothes on the night of July 16, 2009, when he visited his mother at an apartment. A man started firing a gun nearby. Thornton escorted his mother to her car and told her to leave. Then Thornton saw a man in a police belt and tactical vest. He figured the man was another officer and got in his truck, but then the man opened fire. Thornton got out of the truck and engaged the gunman, who was hit. So was Thornton, but he didn't know it at the time. Soon Prince George's County officers arrived and found the gunman lying on the ground. Thornton was shot in the back. He has recovered and is back on duty.
November 2010: Officer Ray Blohm of the Upper Darby (Pa.) PD was patrolling near Philadelphia when he saw a suspected drug dealer leave a bar and smoke what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette. Blohm tried to make an arrest, and the man fled. Blohm gave chase. The suspect turned and grabbed a revolver in his waistband. Blohm went for his gun. But before he could draw, two rounds hit his body. He wasn't sure if his vest had stopped the bullets or not, but Blohm shot back, wounding the suspect. Blohm was hit by two .22 caliber bullets. One went under his vest and ricocheted off his spine. The other went through his handcuff case and into his body. Blohm has recovered from his wounds; the suspect survived and pleaded guilty.
October 2010: On May 20, 2010, two Sovereign Citizens killed two West Memphis, Ark., officers at a traffic stop. Later that day, the van used by the two cop killers was spotted in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Crittenden County's sheriff and a deputy blocked the van with their vehicle, and the two gunmen opened up on them. Responding to the scene was Arkansas Wildlife Officer Michael K. Neal, who sped toward fellow officers under fire. The gunmen got back in their van and tried to escape, but Neal rammed the van with his truck. The gunmen responded by lighting up his truck with an AK-47. Neal shot back with his patrol rifle, killing one of the gunmen and mortally wounding the second.
April 2011: Officer Matthew DeMatteo of the Suffolk County (N.Y.) Police Department was the first to respond to a report of a drowning child. The little girl fell through an iced over bay while walking her dog on Jan. 17 and began crying for help. A neighbor called 911. DeMatteo risked falling into the ice himself to rescue the girl.
June 2011: Police diver Officer Mark Michaud of the Slidell (La.) Police Department received the June 2011 Officer of the Month award for his dedication to his work. He has recovered evidence from local waters since 2005. A master diver and a member of the International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery organization, Michaud now leads the department's dive team.
August 2011: Inspector Anton Sampson of the Federal Protective Service, Office of Homeland Security, had just come home from work on April 11, 2011, when a 9-year-old neighbor ran up to his door and told him her friend was being held at gunpoint in a nearby house. Sampson grabbed his gun and badge and ran out the door to help. A man on the house's back porch fired shots at the inspector but missed. Sampson chased the gunman, but he ran away into the woods. Sampson went into the house, found the girl, and brought him to her house and safety. The girl's grandmother was found safe in the house. The gunman and an assailant with a knife were later apprehended.
September 2010: Officer Daniel Paidousis of the Knoxville (Tenn.) Police Department found time to solve a murder between calls for service. An elderly man was murdered in Knoxville by two women. Paidousis took special interest in the case, and he helped close it after seeing one of the women who had used the victim's credit card in a local store.
July 2010: Arriving before firefighters at a house fire, Officer Trent Ginn (pictured) and Cpl. Christopher Sturgeon went into the burning home and rescued a trapped woman. Following her screams, Sturgeon crawled along the floor to stay below the thick smoke that permeated the house as he searched for and found the woman. Ginn helped retrieve her from the house. Both officers were treated for smoke inhalation at a local hospital. The woman recovered fully.
May 2011: Officer Dana Binion was honored with the May 2011 Officer of the Month award for his career with the Los Angeles Police Department. Binion started a surveillance detail in the West L.A. Division that helped thwart car thieves. He retired earlier this year.
June 2010: Trooper Kevin Caldwell of the Michigan State Police was off duty driving behind an Allen Park Police Officer in a residential area when he heard shotgun fire. The Allen Park officer responded and so did Caldwell. Arriving on scene, they discovered that the shots targeted a civilian court officer. The gunman quickly turned his attention on the Allen Park police officer, hitting him with aimed fire. Caldwell pulled his wounded fellow officer to safety behind a cement wall and engaged the gunman. From this position, Caldwell and other officers fought it out with the gunman for nearly three hours. The gunman was found dead after the battle. The wounded officer recovered.
October 2011: The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Police Department's Officer Darrell Goodrow, Sgt. Karl Lounge, Officer Timothy McClintick, Officer Max McDonald, and Officer Doug Weaver were instrumental in the attempted rescue of three officers ambushed inside of a house. Sgt. Karl Lounge, front row, first on left; Officer Darrell Goodrow, front row, third from left; Officer Doug Weaver, second row, second from left; Officer Tim McClintick, second row, far right; Officer Max McDonald, back row, second from right. All officers pictured received their agency's Medal of Valor for this incident.
July 2011: On Super Bowl Sunday in 2011, Officer Rachel Morgan of the Paramus (N.J.) Police Department followed a suspicious driver when he sped away from her cruiser. When the driver's car ended up in a snowbank, Morgan parked her cruiser nearby and exited. The driver started shooting at her from his seat. Fellow Paramus officer Ryan Hayo arrived as backup and the two officers engaged the suspect. Morgan received several gunshot wounds, but continued to shoot from the ground. The suspect died from his wounds. Morgan is still in recovery.
March 2011: While on patrol on Dec. 1, 2010, Boca Raton, Fla., officer Jimmy Jalil saw the driver of a Chevy Trailblazer lose control of the vehicle and hit a pole on I-95. The SUV burst into flames and a female passenger was trapped inside. Unable to extinguish the fire or break the passenger window with his baton, the quick-thinking Jalil drew his pistol, shot the window, smashed the weakened glass with his baton, and rescued the woman.
August 2010: Officer Bob Angelo of the Bangor (Maine) Police Department prevented a distraught woman from jumping off of a local bridge to commit suicide. The woman had lost her two children in a car accident, and Angelo used his love of his own children to sympathize with her. Then he grabbed her to prevent her from falling and pulled her back onto the bridge with the help of other officers.
February 2011: Private First Class Michael A. Riley of the U.S. Capitol Police was on duty in February 2010 when he learned that fellow officer Bryan Nickelson had fallen on some ice. Arriving on the scene, Riley discovered that Nickelson had actually had a heart attack. He gave his fellow officer CPR, not only saving the man's life but preventing brain damage.
January 2011: On Sept. 16, 2010, Officer Rocco Cipriano of the Scranton (Pa.) PD was called to a house on a domestic issue. An adult guardian had seen a 15-year-old attack her 10-year-old sister. The guardian, who had severe heart problems, barricaded himself in his room. Finding the front door blocked, Cipriano decided to enter the house through a window that contained an air conditioner unit. As he pushed out the air conditioner, the girl ranted at him and threatened him with a knife. She stabbed the air conditioner with the knife and broke off the blade. Suddenly disarmed, the girl became much more peaceful. Cipriano convinced her to let him in. Once Cipriano was inside she became more agitated and Cipriano's sergeant TASERed her.
September 2011: Sgt. Kevin Furlong of the Milford (N.H.) Police Department answered a late-night home invasion robbery call on Oct. 4, 2009, and found inside the house an 11-year-old girl who had been slashed with a machete. Part of one foot had been cut off and her jaw was nearly sliced off her face. Furlong searched the house and found the girl's mother, deceased in her bed. Furlong and fellow officer Eric Wales tended to the girl. When she started to go into shock from both emotional trauma and blood loss, Furlong retrieved a solar blanket and covered her with it until an ambulance arrived. The four robbery and murder suspects were later apprehended. The girl recovered and is back in school.