Farmington Hills Police Department Honors Officers

The Farmington Hills Police Department recently honored more than three dozen officers, dispatchers and civilians for service above and beyond the call of duty.

Here are their commendations, based on information from reports filed with the department and the written citations:

Officer Thomas Shirak received a Life-Saving Award for rescuing a 25-year-old resident of Village Oaks Apartments after a pan on the stove caused heavy smoke in her apartment. According to the award document, the incident occurred April 16.

Officer Gary Lavin received a Life-Saving Award; dispatchers Annette Wesley, Kim Przeworski, Kari Okerstrom and Libby Wade-Wehby received a Unit Citation; and Spring employees Donna Van Note, Laura Cambren, Mike Shipman, Elizabeth Van Alstine and Melissa Bryson received Civilian Citations, after a Hills woman who was apparently suicidal left home in a rental vehicle Nov. 18. According to the award documents, for an hour and a half, dispatchers and Sprint employees worked together to track the woman's movements. Lavin made contact and built a rapport with the woman, who was eventually taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Sgt. John Piggott received a Citation for coordinating the response after a Jan. 28 call to a residence on Greening, where a 93-year-old man with dementia had threatened two people. According to the citation, Piggott's actions led to a peaceful conclusion. The man was taken to for evaluation.

Officer Mark Mostek received two Citations. According to the award descriptions: The first was for a Nov. 29, 2010, investigation, during which he acted on a citizen tip about a number of vehicles and vehicle parts in a parking lot on Eight Mile Road. Mostek ran the vehicle identification number on one of the vehicles and discovered it was stolen. Working with the Oakland County Auto Theft Unit, Mostek discovered two stolen vehicles.

In the second incident, Mostek's questioning of several people in a car near a party store on Nine Mile Road resulted in the arrest of a 21-year-old Wolverine Lake man on charges of check fraud. Police later learned he was a suspect in numerous other check fraud cases in Oakland County.

Officers Jeffrey Miller and Justin Barry received a Citation, and a Unit Citation went to Hills Officer Scott Rzeppa and Novi Officer Scott Wilson after the arrest in December 2010 of four teens from Detroit, Novi and Southfield. According to the citation, their work led to charges in connection with five home invasions in Farmington Hills and Novi.

A Unit Citation went to Sgt. John Regorrah and officers James Kase, Mark Meredith, Brian Harbaugh, Lavin, Mark Kellers, David Kemp, Brian Rohrer, Domenic Lauria and Hadar Saad, and a Commendation went to Rzeppa, after their response to a domestic call in March. According to the citation, officers struggled to control a 22-year-old Detroit man who ran from police, twice pulling Taser prongs off his body, and eventually barricaded himself in an apartment. The man was charged in a seven-count complaint after he was treated at Botsford Hospital.

Meredith and Officer Mark Rash received Commendations for their work in identifying suspects and obtaining arrest warrants that closed two break-ins. According to the commendations, Rash lifted a fingerprint off a rough surface at a residence on St. Francis Avenue in November 2010; Meredith processed evidence at the Salvation Army in January and matched a footwear impression that subsequently prompted a suspect to confess to the crime.

Officers Matthew Smith, Jason Hammond, Christopher Weiss, James Bretz and Larry Hernandez and Redford K-9 Officer Jennifer Mansfield also received a Commendation for their work in the Salvation Army incident.

Officers Mostek and Lavin received a Commendation for their work in discovering in March that a 55-year-old man had been living for several months in an abandoned house on Haynes. According to the commendation, the man had an illegal electric hook-up; a felony complaint was issued for the theft of electricity.

Officer David Newcomb received a Letter of Appreciation for his work in processing evidence at the scene of a November 2010 home invasion on Briar Hills Drive. According to the letter, his work resulted in the identification of a suspect, who confessed to the crime.

Ron Pitsch received a Civilian Citation honoring his efforts to help an elderly group home resident who had wandered from his home on a cold morning in December 2010. Pitsch stopped to help, and when he was unable to learn where the man lived, took him to a nearby subdivision gatehouse. A guard there called Hills police. The man had been reported missing the day before, resulting in a search that involved Hills police and firefighters, along with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. According to the citation, Pitsch's action prevented the need for another search.