Officers, Dispatchers Receive Farmington Public Safety Awards

Farmington Public Safety Officer (PSO) Patrick Spelman racked up an impressive 392 citations, 114 misdemeanor arrests and 16 felony arrests in 2011, but his public safety work wasn't limited to this community. 

The 2011 Officer of the Year also rescued two elderly sailors from the waters of Lake Charlevoix, while he was vacationing in northern Michigan. 

In recapping incident for Spelman's award, Public Safety Director Bob Schulz wrote that the men were floating along their capsized boat and in distress.

"PSO Spelman quickly assessed the situation and assisted the fatigued and near panicked men into a waiting boat," Schulz wrote. "(He) then turned his attention to the damaged boat and secured a towline ot the boat, which was safely towed to shore." 

Schulz wrote that Spelman also coordinated training for other officers on commercial vehicle enforcement, which resulted in them issuing 467 commercial vehicle violations last year.

Spelman was honored during the department's awards ceremony in May, along with these officers, dispatchers and civilians:

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Award

Sgt. Richard Friess was honored for arresting 31 drivers for operating while intoxicated and three for operating under the influence of drugs. Friess also issued nine other alcohol-related violations.

Unit Citations

• Detective Scott Brown and Detective Shane Wash lifted fingerprints that led to an arrest in connection with a Dec. 2, 2011 home invasion on Brookdale. The juvenile suspect confessed to committing similar crimes throughout Oakland County. 
• Commander Frank Demers, Commander Justin DuLong, Sgt. Jeffrey Brow, Sgt. Reginald Madeline, PSO Christine Schutz, PSO Mark Keeley, PSO Alan Baranski, Det. Brown, PSO Patrick Spelman, Det. Wash, PSO William Wood, POS James Wren, Supervisor Corinne Brazzil, Dispatchers JoAnn Alcantara and Sean Skinner worked together to bring a "safe and peaceful" conclusion to a harrowing incident Nov. 21, 2011, during which a man barricaded himself in an apartment at Chatham Hills, with his infant child. 
• Sgt. Bob Houhanisin and PSO James Wren while on patrol around 2:50 a.m. Nov. 16, 2011 stopped a man who damaged a white van parked at a business on Nine Mile near Farmington Road. 
• Det. Scott Brown, Farmington Hills Police (FHPD) Detectives Scott Rzeppa and Jason McDonald, and Farmington Hills Police Officer Mark Mostek investigated breaking and entering reports at two downtown Farmington businesses and an apartment above the businesses on July 23, 2011. Brown worked closely with Farmington Hills officers and the South Oakland Narcotics Intelligence Consortium (S.O.N.I.C.) to arrest suspects who eventually confessed to the Farmington crimes. Based on information from their confessions, Mostek walked the shoulder of I-696 and recovered several items stolen from one of the businesses. 
• Commander Demers, Sgt. Brow and Det. Brown battled thick, brown smoke and zero visibility to rescue the occpuant of an apartment on Blanchard, during an Oct. 18, 2011 fire. Letters of appreciation were given to Commander DuLong, Sgt. Friess, PSO Schutz, and Fire Reserve Officer Kevin Allen, who provided basic life support, and PSOs Richard Hennessy and Wren, who returned to the apartment to extinguish the remaining fire. 

Life Saving Awards

• PSO Hennessy and PSO Alan Baranski provided life-support to a member of a local fitness club who collapsed on Sept. 14, 2011. The officers used the department's automated external defibrillator (AED) to restore the man's pulse and breathing. He was taken to a local hospital, treated and later discharged. 
• Commander DuLong, Sgt. Todd Anderson and PSO Andrew Morche on Oct. 23, 2011 rescued a woman who was found choking and unresponsive. The officers used abdominal thrusts and a portable suction device to dislodge the airway obstruction. The woman was treated at a local hospital and released. 

Citations

• Detectives Brown and Wash, assigned Nov. 30, 2011 to investigate a case of criminal sexual conduct, built a rapport with the suspect, who eventually confessed to committing a number of sexual acts on his grandchildren for years, as well as taking inappropriate photos of the children. 
• PSO Spelman on June 25, 2011 stopped a speeding vehicle and noticed an odor of marijuana as he spoke with the driver and occupants. In interviews, the suspects revealed that one of the passengers had just sold them marijuana and had more drugs at his home on Violet. A search recovered nine grams of marijuana, packaging materials and a scale. 
• While conducting an apartment watch patrol on July 19, 2011, Sgt. Friess investigated suspicious activity in the parking lot and discovered a person who had a large amount of marijuana in his vehicle. 

Letters of Appreciation

• Responding to a possible home invasion Nov. 11, 2011, Sgt. Anderson and Sgt. Houhanisin, along with PSO Wren, elicited a confession from the man who had staged the crime, after he and two friends took items from the man's roommate. In all, three people were arrested and charged with larceny in a building. 
• FHPD Officer Larry Hernandez and FHPD Detectives Richard Wehby and Jason McDonald solved a string of Farmington and Farmington Hills pizza store robberies that occurred in December. Three suspects were arrested and confess to four armed robberies. 
• Sgt. Houhanisin, PSO Hennessy and PSO Wood are credited with restoring a pulse and measurable blood pressure to a man who fell down the stairs at his home on Cortland Dec. 2, 2011. After administering CPR and rescue breathing, officers helped place the man in an ambulance; he was treated at a local hospital, but eventually died. Paramedics Billie Nagy and John Yousef received Civilian Citations for their work. 

Other Awards

Safe Driving: PSO Hennessy, 5 consecutive years without an at-fault accident; PSO Aaron Malewski, 15 consecutive years without an at-fault accident; Director Schulz, 10 consecutive years without an at-fault accident

Longevity: Fire Reserve Officer Matthew Schiffman, 5 years; Fire Reserve Officer Sean Skinner, 5 years; Fire Reserve Officer James Yuill, 5 years; PSO Wood, 5 years; Sgt. Anderson, 10 years; PSO Baranski, 10 years; Sgt. Madeline, 10 years; Sgt. Friess, 10 years; PSO Malewski, 15 years; Records Clerk Debra Comini, 20 years; Administrative Assistant Carole Lukas, 30 years