Eight Lawrence officers receive commendation.
By: Lea Kahn
Their job description is to serve and protect Lawrence Township, but for one night last week, they were the ones being served with thanks from the community.
Eight of Lawrence’s finest were honored by Township Council on May 18 in an annual ceremony that pays tribute to police officers who have performed beyond the call of duty.
A ninth police officer, who works for the New Jersey State Police, was honored with the Community Service Award for the assistance that he has given to the Lawrence Township Police Department through the years, according to Chief of Police Daniel Posluszny.
Lt. Mark Boyd, Detective Ruth A. Hochreiter, Patrolman Richard H. Dziminski Jr., Patrolman David E. Burns II, Detective Scott Caloiaro, Patrolman Mark C. Cashel, Patrolman Christopher P. DiMeglio and Detective Joseph S. Lech IV were honored from the Lawrence department. Lt. John P. Oakley was honored from the state force.
Detective Caloiaro also was honored by the Lawrence Lions Club as its Police Officer of the Year. The club has honored a police officer every year since 1998, club President Roy Hoch told the audience at the Township Council meeting.
Lawrence police officers are honored every year in connection with National Police Week, which was designated as May 10-14. The police officers are nominated by their peers and then chosen by a committee.
This year, the committee was made up of Chief Posluszny, then-Capt. Joseph Prettyman, Patrol Division commander Lt. Mark Ubry, Investigations Division commander Lt. Boyd, shift commander Sgt. David Buxton, and Patrolmen Mark Harmon and James Smith.
Lt. Boyd received the Chief’s Award. The award is bestowed on a police officer or a civilian Police Department employee by the chief of police, without input from the committee.
The winner of the Chief’s Award is chosen on the basis of that person’s faithfulness to the Police Department, professionalism on the job, and assistance to the chief, Chief Posluszny said.
Lt. Boyd was chosen for his hard work during his 23 years on the force, Chief Posluszny said.
Chief Posluszny recalled that when he began his police career 19 years ago, he was assigned to ride with Lt. Boyd, who was then a patrolman. After they had completed an assignment, Chief Posluszny said, they would sit down and critique it and try to figure out what they could have done differently.
In addition to Lt. Boyd, awards were handed out to seven township police officers.
Detective Hochreiter was given the department’s Meritorious Service Award in connection with an "exceptional and dangerous" incident that occurred while the off-duty police officer was shopping at the Toys ‘R Us store on Brunswick Pike, said Chief Posluszny.
Detective Hochreiter was at the store Dec. 19 when she noticed a man who she knew to be a chronic criminal offender, according to the resolution presented to her.
Detective Hochreiter watched the man leave the store, the resolution said. As he exited, the inventory control sensor was activated. She followed him outside, identified herself as a police officer and attempted to arrest him. She grabbed his arm, and a stolen compact disc player fell to the ground from his jacket.
The man removed a razor blade from his mouth and pointed it at her, the resolution said. He told the detective, who was unarmed, to let him go. He put the razor back in his mouth and started to walk away.
Detective Hochreiter grabbed him again and began to wrestle with him, the resolution said. He broke free and ran away, but she caught him and began to wrestle with him again. This time, he pulled out a 4-inch knife from his pocket and threatened to cut her with it.
Detective Hochreiter pushed him into a snowbank and pulled his jacket over his head in an effort to disorient him and gain control over him. He broke free again and fled through wooded areas and parking lots. She called for help on her cell phone and followed him until Patrolman James Vardenega arrived and helped her to arrest him.
Township Council recognized Detective Hochreiter "for the determination, professionalism and bravery she exhibited as a member of the Lawrence Township Police Department during this highly unusual police accomplishment," the resolution said.
The Police Department’s Life Saving Award was given to Patrolman Dziminski for his role in saving the life of a handicapped woman who was unable to leave her home during a fire May 6, 2003.
Patrolman Dziminski was assigned to a home on Princeton Pike to investigate a call that there was smoke in the house. When he arrived, he opened the front door and was confronted with heavy smoke inside the house.
Patrolman Dziminski called out to the resident, and the sound of her voice led him to the second floor of the house, the resolution said. The woman is handicapped and was unable to leave the house by herself, so he helped her down the steps and out of the house.
The woman was given oxygen and then taken to the Medical Center at Princeton for treatment of smoke inhalation.
In the resolution honoring Patrolman Dziminski, Township Council noted his "determination, dedication to duty and professional life-saving skills" that he exhibited.
Five police officers received the Police Department’s Commendable Service Award for their actions in several incidents that occurred over the past year.
Patrolman Burns was honored for his role in chasing and capturing a man who attempted to rob the Just Delights store at The Manors Corner shopping center on Lawrenceville-Pennington Road on April 11, 2003.
Patrolman Burns was in the Communications Center at the Police Department when a caller reported the attempted robbery, the resolution said. The caller told police the suspect fled in a white van.
Patrolman Burns started to respond and was traveling north on Lawrence Road when he noticed the van headed south on Lawrence Road. He turned around in the patrol car and started to chase the van. The pursuit was stopped near Irwin Place for safety reasons, the resolution said.
The driver continued south on Lawrence Road until the van collided with another vehicle at a traffic light. Patrolman Burns arrived at the scene and saw the man try to run away. The police officer chased him on foot and apprehended him at gunpoint.
In the resolution, Patrolman Burns was recognized "for the determination, professionalism and alertness" that he displayed.
Detective Caloiaro received the Commendable Service Award for preventing a group of juveniles from tossing Molotov cocktails into residents’ yards in the Eldridge Park neighborhood on Mischief Night, Oct. 30, 2003.
Detective Caloiaro was on patrol on Eldridge Avenue in civilian clothes in an unmarked police car when he noticed a group of eight boys, ages 15 to 17, wearing dark clothing. Three were on bicycles and five were walking.
Detective Caloiaro recognized one of the youths from a prior encounter. The boy was wearing a large backpack. The detective stopped the group. After talking to the boys, he asked the boy with the backpack to empty it.
Five bottles of gasoline, several white tube socks and five cans of aerosol spray came tumbling out of the backpack. Detective Caloiaro determined that the items were intended to be turned into gasoline bombs, which would have been lobbed at houses and into back yards by the boys. The teens were taken into custody by police.
The resolution said that if it were not for the professionalism, alertness, perseverance and keen attention to detail shown by Detective Caloiaro, "the boys would have been able to carry out their intended criminal activity which would have resulted in extreme property damage and possible injury or death to an unwitting victim."
Patrolman Cashel and Patrolman DiMeglio were given a Commendable Service Award for helping to catch a group of four men who robbed the 7-Eleven Store on Lawrence Road on Dec. 15, 2003.
Patrolman DiMeglio, who was traveling north on Princeton Avenue, saw a car pass him in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. He turned around in his patrol car and chased the car. He found it abandoned at the corner of Mulberry Street and Bruening Avenue in Trenton. Inside the car, he saw a handgun, a ski mask and black gloves.
Patrolman Cashel, in the meantime, had responded to help Patrolman DiMeglio. Patrolman Cashel noticed another car drive past the location where the abandoned car was discovered. He saw only the driver, but observed that the windows were fogged up.
Suspicious that there might be other occupants in the car who were trying to hide, Patrolman Cashel followed the car. When the driver stopped at a traffic light, the police officer pulled up alongside of it and shined the patrol car’s spotlight into the car. He saw the top of a head of a person attempting to hide in the car.
Patrolman Cashel stopped the car and with the help of the Trenton Police Department, discovered four men inside the car. It was determined that they were responsible for the armed robbery that had occurred several hours earlier at the 7-Eleven, the resolution said.
Patrolmen Cashel and DiMeglio were honored for their "determination, professionalism and alertness" that they demonstrated.
Detective Lech was awarded a Commendable Service Award for helping to create a Mercer Countywide task force to deal with a string of burglaries that occurred in many towns in the county including Lawrence between December 2002 and February 2003.
In January 2003, Detective Lech noticed similarities in the burglaries and asked for permission to meet with detectives from the affected towns, the resolution said. A countywide task force grew out of that meeting to deal with the burglary problem.
The task force developed leads that suggested that a serial burglar, who had been released from prison in December 2002, was responsible for the crime wave, the resolution said.
Police watched him and followed him to Jeweler’s Row in Philadelphia, where the proceeds of two burglaries were pawned and subsequently recovered by police, the resolution said.
The suspect drove back to Trenton, where task force members tried to stop his car, the resolution said. The suspect eluded police in a car chase and foot chase, and ran into his parents’ home on Stuyvesant Avenue.
Detective Lech obtained a search warrant for the house that resulted in the suspect’s arrest by the Trenton Police Department’s SWAT team.
The resolution praised Detective Lech for his "professionalism, perseverance and attention to investigative detail."
The Community Service Award was given to New Jersey State Police Lt. Oakley for his role in helping to capture a hit-and-run driver who struck a pedestrian and killed her as she crossed Princeton Avenue on Nov. 20, 2003.
Lt. Oakley and his wife were driving near the intersection of Whitehead Road and Brunswick Pike when the off-duty trooper heard a police radio broadcast that a woman had been struck by a pickup truck in front of HomeFront on Princeton Avenue.
While Lt. Oakley was listening to police describe the pickup truck, he saw it headed north on Brunswick Pike. Ms. Oakley called the Lawrence police on her cell phone while her husband followed the pickup truck north into West Windsor.
The pickup truck was stopped by West Windsor and Lawrence police officers, and the driver was arrested in connection with the fatal hit-and-run accident.
Lt. Oakley has offered a lifetime of volunteer public service to Lawrence, including stints as a fire chief at the Slackwood Fire Co., sports coach and a member of the Lawrence Township Public Safety Advisory Committee, the resolution said.
As a member of the New Jersey State Police Bomb and Arson Squad, Lt. Oakley has helped the Lawrence police many times with arson and suspicious package investigations, the resolution said.
"Were it not for the dedication, commitment and spirit of service of persons such as Lieutenant Oakley, Lawrence Township would not be the safe and peaceful community that it is today," the resolution said.