Citizens, police honored by UWPD

The UW Police Department honored several civilians and members of its own staff at its 21^st annual awards ceremony Monday night (March 26) at Union South.

• Dean of Students Lori Berquam was one of three members of the campus community who were honored for their efforts to save the life of a student who was threatening to jump off the roof of Van Hise Hall on the afternoon of Feb. 25, 2011.

UWPD officers responded to a report of a student on the rooftop. Officer Anthony Barnes entered the building and on the 18^th floor he located student Jackie Hurtis. She was in telephone contact with student and he agreed to talk to Barnes and remove the barricade from the roof hatch. Berquam arrived and was taken up to the roof hatch.

After two hours of negotiation, the student agreed to come down from the roof, and due to the compassionate care that Berquam, Barnes, and Hurtis gave to him, he was able to get the help that he needed. Berquam and Hurtis received Chief’s Awards for their efforts and Barnes received a Lifesaving Award.

• Students Maxwell Morkri and Gino Ricchio also received Chief’s Awards. They were in the Humanities Building when they heard a man in distress in a lower-level restroom. They found him lying on the floor in a stall and called for help. UWPD and Madison Fire Rescue responded to the call. The man had overdosed on heroin, and if Morkri and Ricchio hadn’t found him, he most likely would have died.

• Five students received Chief’s Awards for providing immediate and lifesaving care to a 37-year-old student who was on a treadmill at the SERF when he collapsed. Among the students were Adrianna Barca, Jacob Hintz, Benjamin Van Pelt, Bryant Miller and Renee Hadley. UWPD officers Juan Avila and Hector Rivera arrived on the scene and assisted. They retrieved an AED and started chest compressions. The victim survived and the officers were honored with Lifesaving Awards.

• Chief’s Awards went to Donna Morgan, founder of Wisconsin Vest-a-Dog, and Tanya Mordecai of Project Aluminum, both of Janesville. Wisconsin Vest-a-Dog has delivered more than 150 ballistic vests for K9 officers throughout the state. http://www.wivestadog.org/index.html. Mordecai’s organization involves businesses, construction companies and law enforcement agencies that collect metal scraps and aluminum cans that are turned in for cash that is used to purchase bullet proof and stab proof vests for K9 police and rescue dogs. The vests cost $840 apiece. The Project Aluminum motto is “Save A Can… Save A Dog.” http://www.project-aluminum.com/#!

• Four UW-Whitewater communication students were honored with Chief’s Awards for taking on Vest-a-Dog as a class project. Alycia Krebs, Amanda Klamrowski, Callista Hoffstead and Jessica Hallstead raised $1,717.84, which provided vests for two K9s. The students chose UWPD’s K9 Casey as one of the recipients and gave her an early Christmas present on Dec. 24, 2011. UW Police K9s Rex and Odin already had received their vests.

• Chief’s Awards also went to computer science professor Jignesh Patel and students Michael Maynord and Michael Bierbach for assisting the department with implementation of the Bait Laptop Program, a crime prevention initiative aimed at reducing laptop thefts on campus. Patel developed the tracking software and Maynord modified the “bait” laptops. Bierbach, a marketing student, created bait laptop posters and stickers for distribution as another tool to prevent thefts and create awareness of the program.

• Chief’s Awards were given to Jeff Brown of the State Bar of Wisconsin and Wes Taylor of the law firm of Foley and Lardner. They assisted 30 UWPD staff members and their spouses and partners with preparing their wills, health care powers of attorney, and powers of attorney for finances and living wills. The Wills for Heroes program was created to support Wisconsin’s first responders.

• Shawn Dunn, a custodian at Sellery Hall, received a Chief’s Award for helping to stop a suspect who was being chased on foot by a UWPD officer. Dunn took quick action to stop the suspect by grabbing his backpack and holding him up so the officer could take him into custody.

• Officer Patrick Lau received a Lifesaving Award for helping to save the life of an unconscious male who was having trouble breathing in the Arboretum and was suffering from a heroin overdose. Lau took over doing chest compressions that had been started by a Madison police officer.

• Sgt. Cherise Caradine received a Lifesaving Award for her efforts to revive university electrician Brad Krause, who was electrocuted in the Humanities Building in late July. Without hesitation, she climbed a two-story ladder in an attic crawl space to locate him. She attempted to provide CPR in a safe area and tried to pull Krause off the raised platform. Caradine put her own safety aside while trying to assist the victim in tight quarters with an unknown electrocution risk at the time.

• Police Chief Sue Riseling received a Meritorious Award for her extraordinary efforts in her role as the interior branch director for the state Capitol law enforcement response during last year’s Capitol protests.

• Security Supervisor William Vanderbloemen and Cathryn Pierce-Mosher were honored with Community Service awards for being great advocates for the “Be the We” campaign and the Cans for K9s program on campus. Vanderbloemen also set up battery recycling containers at all three UWPD locations and frequently delivered batteries to Union South for the recycling program.

Receiving Community Service Awards were:

• Det. Cheryl Radzinski for working with victims in the community and giving guidance and support regarding sensitive crimes;

• Officer Erik Pearce for his work with the Zimmerman family in helping organize the Brittany Zimmerman Memorial 5k Run/Walk for the past two years;

• Officer Heidi Laundrie for her work with the homeless population that frequents the campus. She has helped them with bus tickets back to their families, packed them lunches for on the way, provided money for meals, given guidance on where to go for help, all done with her own money; and

• Officer Truli Nielsen, who arranged for the Wills for Heroes Program.

Each year department personnel nominate civilians and co-workers for the annual awards.