Middle Township Police Present Awards for Lifesaving, Valor

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Police Department held an awards ceremony at the DeVico Senior Center March 15. Fifty-four officers, dispatchers and staff employees received recognition.  
Chief Christopher Leusner welcomed Steve Holler and his wife, Norma. On Nov. 11, 2015, Norma Holler called 911 to report that her husband was unconscious and unresponsive. He had stopped breathing.
Dispatcher David Atkinson talked her through the process of administering CPR while alerting emergency personnel. The first to arrive was Patrolman Mike Pastore. He immediately used an automatic defibrillator to shock Holler’s heart before continuing CPR until emergency medical technicians and paramedics arrived.
Lifesaving Award
The combined quick action of Norma, the ability of Atkinson to communicate the CPR process over the phone and the intervention of Pastore, an experienced rescue squad member, contributed to saving Holler’s life. That allowed him to attend the ceremony where Pastore and Atkinson were given the Lifesaving Award.
The Hollers’ story was one of many heard as Leusner, and Mayor Michael Clark presented awards and uniform pins recognizing the many ways in which members of the department, officers, and civilians, routinely go “above and beyond” and make a difference in the life of the community.
Medal of Valor
The Medal of Valor, the department’s highest award, was presented twice during the event.
In the first instance, Detective Sgt. Clint Stocker and Patrolman Kurt Saettler were honored for heroism and professionalism in confronting a man walking with a gun. The officers’ intervention resolved the incident without bloodshed.
The second award of the Medal of Valor was to Cpl. Ronald Miller and Sgt. Stocker for actions in August 2016 when they entered a building on fire to forcibly remove the perpetrator of the blaze before he died in the conflagration.
The evening was full of such stories.
There were awards for special capabilities and training in areas like drug recognition, underwater crime scene investigations, and accident reconstruction.
Officers were honored for military service, sharing their experiences and talents through participation as police academy instructors, and SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) membership.
Meritorious Service Awards
Meritorious Service Awards were given for actions that helped find a missing autistic child and for quickly locating a missing elderly woman with dementia and returning her home.
In one case the award was presented to Sgt. Tracey Super who was one of the officers responding on April 7, 2016, for a call involving a missing suicidal 13-year-old.
Quick action, working with dispatch to ping an electronic device, resulted in the child being found and safely returned home.
Awards and the descriptions of events repeatedly made clear the many instances in which members of the department serve the community in ways that seldom gain recognition.
Examples of the work done by officers and staff:
Breaking up a prostitution ring in an area hotel.
Taking down a “high-level target” dealing drugs in the community.
Convincing Social Services to house a homeless veteran until he could start a job the next day.
Feeding a man who had not eaten in two days.
Dealing with the victim of an arterial disease who had started bleeding profusely in a hotel room.
Organizing a school program to help young people and community members better understand what to expect in an encounter with a police officer.
In 2016 the officers responded to over 45,000 calls for service across a 72-square-mile municipality. The stories told by the Chief showed the role those men and women perform in the township.
As Clark put it, we owe them all “Our sincere thanks for all they do for our community.” 
A complete list of the individuals who received awards is available here.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.