Home Antioch Photos: Antioch Police Honor Years Best

Photos: Antioch Police Honor Years Best

by ECT

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The Antioch Police Department honored officers, staff, and civilians Thursday for their hard work towards helping make the community a better place of the past year.

Officer James Colley was named Antioch Officer of the Year which was voted on by his peers, and Acting Capt. Diane Aguinaga and Sgt. Tarra Nissen earned Distinguished Service Awards.

The Chief also awarded Citizens Service Citations to Roxanna Ramirez Del Rio and Hailey Hartrick.

Roxanna Ramirez Del Rio provided Antioch Police with a tip that helped them locate a kidnapped 7-year-old girl within hours of the abduction. Her tip likely saved the child’s life as the Chief explained that according to a study, 76 percent of child-abduction murders, the victim was killed within three hours of the reported abduction, and 89 percent within 24 hours.

Hailey Hartrick, an 8th grader, was recognized for her efforts in organizing a fundraiser to help police K9’s and ensure they have proper equipment. Her efforts led to $12,000 in funds being raised and ensuring each police K9 has a vest.

Here is a list of all the Award Recipients:

Officer of the Year

  • Officer James Colley

Civilian Employee of the Year

  • Virgina Johnson

Distinguished Service Award

  • Acting Captain Diane Aguinaga
  • Sergeant Tara Nissen

10 Year Service Recognition

  • Officer Ryan Andelin

Life Saving Award

  • Officer Meghan Miller
  • Officer Shawn Morin
  • Officer Ryan mcDonald
  • Kevin Brady

Service Retirements

  • Captain Steve McConnell
  • Lieutenant Pat Welch
  • Sergeant Steve Bias
  • Sergeant Robert Quintero
  • Sergeant Mitch Schwitters
  • Officer Vince Augusta
  • Officer Kevin Kollo
  • Lead Dispatcher Karen Rezentes
  • Lead Dispatcher Marla Spainhower

Medical Retirements

  • Sergeant Scott Freier
  • Officer Diane Freier
  • Officer Preston Garcia
  • Officer Chris Walton
  • Officer Joe Zanarini

Retirements (Reserve Officers)

  • Chris Ming

Meritorious Service Awards

Field Services

  • Officer Wardell Carter
  • Officer Ted Chang
  • Officer Rick Hoffman
  • Officer Martin Hynes
  • Officer Christopher Kidd
  • Officer Kristopher Kint
  • Officer James Perkinson
  • Police K9 “Bo”

Support Services

  • Virginia Johnson

Reserve Sergeant

  • Frank Rupani

Citizens Service Citations

  • Roxanna Ramirez Del Rio
  • Haley Hartrick

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17 comments

JimSimmons42 May 17, 2014 - 6:47 am

Love these photographs and love that you included all the recipients. Congrats to all.

karl dietzel May 17, 2014 - 4:33 pm

congratulations to all.

question: a total of 14 officers retired. when will they be replaced? plus 20 new one hired?

Vince Augusta May 17, 2014 - 8:00 pm

Karl Dietzel, The department is in the process of replacing the officers that retired (I am one of the retirees) …. This is a long process — written test, oral boards, polygraph, background investigation, psychological screening and medical …. takes time. As you are aware ANY money resulting from Measure C will not be available until sometime in September, and that money goes to the general fund with no guarantee officers will be hired with that money.

Have you inquired about the possibility of going on several ride alongs yet ? I see that you are a potential candidate for City Council, that would benefit you if you went on a ride along or several.

Vince Augusta May 17, 2014 - 8:02 pm

Karl, The department is in the process of replacing the officers that retired (I am one of the retirees) …. This is a long process — written test, oral boards, polygraph, background investigation, psychological screening and medical …. takes time. As you are aware ANY money resulting from Measure C will not be available until sometime in September, and that money goes to the general fund with no guarantee officers will be hired with that money.

Just curious if you inquired about the possibility of you going on several ride along ? I understand you are a potential candidate for City Council and that would benefit you if you choose to go on some ride alongs with a police officer …..

karl dietzel May 18, 2014 - 12:52 am

hello vince
there is no measure c money needed to replace the 14. i am very concerned getting 14 new officers on board, since it took over a year to hire 8, (6 retired, one left, gain was only 1)
i find the idea of a ride a long ridiculous, since the issue to me is NOT a job performance, or job evaluation of pd officers. i never have the idea to be a cashier at the mall for a day either. my dream never was to be a cop or locomotive engineer, my dream was to be a medic, and i was a medic in the old country for many many years, so i lived my dreams.
well, the reality of running for council is connected to money which i don’t have. i could look for people who sponsor me, but that is something i don’t want, so lets see whats gone happens.

Vince Augusta May 18, 2014 - 5:07 am

Karl, It takes a long time to hire police officers, each police department has specific criteria they are looking for in hiring police officers, if someone does not meet that criteria they will not be hired by that department. That is why it has taken over a year to hire 8. As far as retirements and officers leaving to other departments, well …. that is a fact of the industry, it’s gonna happen and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it or effectively plan for it. That is a question that can be answered by Allan Cantando, have you posed that question to him ? He will very frank and open in his answer in explaining why it takes so long for them to select an officer — cities that lower their standards have nothing but problems called “Getting your ass sued in Federal Court”.

The way the Measure C campaign literature was written led voters to believe that there were 22 people who had already been processed waiting in the wings, to jump right in and assume the role of police officer -NEVER HAPPENED …. so people bought in to Measure C big time !!

The idea/suggestion of a ride along is up to you, that idea was suggested after your rant in a previous blog about the disposition of calls for service after seeing a 51 print out of calls in just one week to the Antioch Police Department.

You keep talking about “not about job performance”, etc. We get that, but going on a ride along will give you some answers to your questions about the disposition of calls for service. That was all that suggestion was about, if you don’t want to go on a ride along that’s fine. Just keep in mind when you pose a question on a blog like this one (about the disposition for calls for service) you ain’t gonna get the answer you want to read ……..

EastCountyToday May 18, 2014 - 5:22 am

Karl,

I must step in here. The fact you are calling going on a ride along “ridiculous” is flat out ridiculous. If you go on a ride along and see what they deal with daily, you would realize why the hiring process is so long.

Have you looked at what Brentwood is dealing with in hiring officers? It’s taken them nearly a year to get officers. The process is not quick

Something to be proud of May 18, 2014 - 12:39 am

Worried to see our city see w/o so many officers. Also must commend them for their honorable jobs serving & protecting our city. Well Done & Thank you for all of your services!

Vince Augusta May 18, 2014 - 7:40 am

@Something to be proud of — You along with the rest of the citizens of Antioch are VERY WELCOME !!!!! It was my pleasure. To quote an Aerosmith song, “NO more, no MORE !” — Thank you !!!!!!!

Rachel May 18, 2014 - 5:46 pm

Whatever happened the the officers that were involved in the running gun battle on Hillcrest. Were they ever given a Life Saving Award?

Where did Antioch go wrong??????? May 19, 2014 - 8:20 am

Karl,
I hope what Vince is saying about you potentially running for city council is not true. You sound like a person that will sit back and just judge the city and department instead of getting involved. A ride along is not to to judge or evaluate officers but to see what is going on around you and what the officers deal with daily.

Hey Vince, I will also quote a song by iron maiden “run to the hills, run for your lives”.

karl dietzel May 19, 2014 - 9:41 am

what a great screen name…..lol
well, i live right in the middle of the sycamore area, no ride a long needed, i live the crime on a daily bases, and yes i judge the city council, city and departments on their performance. i did not know that a ride a long is a requirement to run for council? if that is the case none of the sitting council members should have been in office. even 73% of our city budget goes to one department, i strongly belief ALL of the departments need a fair share of the general fund. what we need is a economic development director, balanced budget, no deficit spending, jobs, infrastructure (highway/ bart/ hillcrest) a collection department to collect money which is on the books, take better care of our children to give them a future.
but hey, this is a democracy, you can vote the very same people into office, over and over, hoping to get different results.

brentwood just open the door to high speed internet, guess what..antioch just opened up an other dollar store.

Reginald Jamal Brown May 19, 2014 - 8:04 pm

You got my vote, Karl!

I’m sure you will do a much better job compared to 90% of the people running the city.

In 'da Know May 19, 2014 - 8:31 pm

Karl,

While I applaud your effort to step up and not just complain, the reality is you don’t stand a chance. Because you have no experience, many of your comments here demonstrate an over simplistic approach to complex problems (coupled with somewhat of a closed mind). This makes you go from a long shot to a no shot. People vote for the devil they know as opposed to the one they don’t know. ***As an outsider, voters don’t know you. You may think your rudimentary approach to politics is something new, but it’s more of a common denominator of thousands of failed campaigns. You won’t be the first and you won’t be the last.

Unless you want to waste time money and effort, you might consider sticking with constituency over candidacy.

I know you most likely won’t heed my advice. Just thought it was worth saying.

Sorry Karl…..

karl dietzel May 19, 2014 - 11:29 pm

i appreciate your “advice”, but i want be able to say, “i gave it a try” on the other hand, i look at antioch and what do i see? failed financial management, failed economic development, failed infrastructure planing, and the list is long. all that is done by the much smarter people then me. lol
i see a city which is full of crime, the last shooting just around my corner, again i may say, at 8 pm. the shooting before on sunday by the mall. a city council who is closing everything down, businesses leaving by the bus load.
the question is not if i get hit by crime, it’s when i get hit.

so, just in case you are a registered antioch voter, it’s up to you to decide. voting for the same people over and over, hoping for a different result, or simply think out of the box. i call that democracy.

karl dietzel May 19, 2014 - 11:31 pm

edit:
yes, i am an “outsider”, and proud of it, NOT to be connected to anybody.

Julio May 21, 2014 - 11:53 am

On thing Karl needs is a ride along. One thing the police don’t need is Karl on a ride along. “Give it a try” is your statement above. Give the ride a long a try Karl.

Comments are closed.