Officer of the Year

Officer Dean Bortner

Officer Dean Bortner is a four (4) year veteran of the Newberry Township Police Department.  Officer Bortner is recognized for his personal motivation, excellent teamwork, and the professionalism that he displayed over the duration of the calendar year of 2018; furthermore, this exemplary job performance demonstrates his dedication to this department and more importantly to the communities to which he serves.

Valor

Officer Jesse Bloom

Officer Bloom responded to a house fire in the 2200 block of Valley Green Road in Newberry Township on April 3, 2018, where the front porch of the house was fully involved in fire. Upon arrival, Officer Bloom requested that the complainant begin to honk her in an attempt to wake the individuals inside the residence.

Officer Bloom then knocked down the fire with his fire extinguisher and forcibly entered the house. Upon entry into the house Officer Bloom was able to safety evacuate all the individuals inside the residence. 

Sgt. Braxton Ditty

Sergeant Ditty responded to a house fire at 900 Block of Pinetown Road in Fairview Township on February 24, 2018, where the roof and majority of the house was fully involved in fire. Upon arrival, Sergeant was notified that the home owner was still inside the residence and refusing to leave. Sergeant Ditty entered the house alone and encountered an individual attempting to extinguish the flames with a small garden house.  Knowing that the small garden house would not be able to extinguish the fire and the presence of heavy fire and smoke was an immediate threat to the individual’s safety, Sergeant Ditty grabbed the individual and forcibly removed him from the residence. 

Meritorious

Sergeant Braxton Ditty

Sergeant Christopher Martinez

Detective Danial Grimme

Officer Nicholas Vozzella

Officer Douglas Klinefelter

The above officers were working on November 15, 2018, when the township and most of the northeast was paralyzed by a large winter storm.   In addition to handling over 30 accidents on this day, these officers recognized the urgency to assist several hundred stranded motorist on Interstate 83 and provide them with reasonable accommodations, such as restroom facilities, fuel, food and water. The officers quickly developed and executed a plan to evacuate stranded motorist from the Interstate to an alternate location so that these essential resources could be afforded to them.

Officer Trevor Stuck

Officer Stuck responded to vehicle accidents on November 7, 2018 and December 1, 2018 where he immediately and without reservation performed CPR on two of the individuals. Unfortunately, these two individuals and two others perished as a result of the injuries they sustained.  However, if it was not for Officers Stuck’s quick actions to begin these life saving measures, the individuals would not have been afforded any opportunity for them to survive.

Community Service Award

Detective Danial Grimme

Officer Dean Bortner

Detective Grimme and Officer Dean Bortner spent countless hours and many hours of their personal time working on the 2018 National Night Out Event the Township of Newberry. This dedication showed in the overall success of the event which was attended by over 2,000 individuals surpassing the attendance of any previous years.

Chiefs Commendation

Officer Richard Breski

Officer Breski investigated several incidents on or about January 11, 2018 where an individual had been illegally dumping large quantities of brand named, unopened baked goods along the road. Officer Breski conducted a proficient and thorough investigation, interviewing countless individuals, thus identifying the offender and subsequently arresting him for committing these crimes. 

Sergeant Christopher Martinez

Officer Nicholas Vozzella

Officer Douglas Klinefelter

K-9 Tazer

The above officers were dispatched to an address on Robinhood Drive in Newberry Township, for domestic situation. Upon arrival, the officers learned that the male half of the domestic had fled the scene due to having an active felony warrant for his arrest and barricaded himself inside the office at local facility.  After establishing a perimeter to ensure that no other Newberry Township residents would be harmed by the subject, the officers attempted to establish communication with the individual who refused to communicate with them.  Entry into the storage facility was then made by the officers in an attempt to apprehend the subject who resisted and began to flee out the back door, however was apprehended by K-9 Tazer.

Sergeant Braxton Ditty

Sergeant Ditty investigated an incident on June 21, 2018, where an individual had been taking photographs and videos of other persons at fitness locations and other public stores. The individual would then upload these images onto an internet site called “Tumbler” without permission or consent of the person’s depicted in the images. The majority of the images emphasized on women’s buttocks and breast area, however several images were uploaded depicting nude images of men. Sergeant Ditty conducted a proficient and thorough investigation, identifying over twenty victims and subsequently arresting the responsible person for committing these crimes. 

Sergeant Keith Farren

Officer Scott Tyson

Officer Nicholas Vozzella

Officer Taylor Nauman

The above officers were dispatched to the 1600 Block of Cly Road in Newberry Township on September 14, 2018, for an intoxicated man suffering from mental illness yielding a firearm and threatening to harm himself. Upon arrival, the other officers of this department encountered an individual standing on the front porch yielding a shotgun.  After establishing a perimeter to ensure that no other Newberry Township residents would be harmed by the subject, the officers established communication with the individual and began to negotiate with him for approximately two hours which culminated when the individual expressed his desire to surrender. 

Sergeant Braxton Ditty

Officer Jesse Bloom

Officer Trevor Stuck

Officer Dean Bortner.

The above officers responded to the area of the Robin hood Drive in Newberry Township on November 26, 2018, in an attempt to locate a wanted person whom had just committed several felonies in Lancaster County and was considered armed and dangerous.  Upon arrival to the area, the suspect was located in a red Dodge truck. These officers initiated a felony traffic stop of the said vehicle and immediately determined that the passenger was in possession of a firearm, due to him holding it to his head.  After establishing a perimeter to ensure that no other Newberry Township residents would be harmed by the subject, the officers established communication with the armed suspect, thus convincing him to allow the other occupant of the vehicle to exit the vehicle.  After approximately three hours negotiating with the subject and the assistance of other agencies, the incident ended when the individual expressed his desire to surrender.

Sergeant Michael Bosco

Officer Michael Briar

Officer Trevor Stuck

The above officers responded to an address on Lark Drive in Newberry Township on January 22, 2018  for an individual attempting to commit suicide. Upon arrival to the address, the discovered a young woman was standing on the second story roof of the residence threating to commit suicide. The young female had an orange extension cord in her hand configured into a noose with one end of the cord anchored to the house. After approximately 30 minutes of speaking with the young female, the officers were able to successfully resolve the situation without any injuries, thus affording this struggling individual with another chance at life.

Officer Dean Bortner

Officer Nicholas Vozzella

The above officers responded to a house fire in the 600 block of Stevens Road in Newberry Township, on January 2, 2018, where the front porch of the house was fully involved in fire. Upon arrival, the officers immediately grabbed their fire extinguishers and deployed these devices knocking down the majority of the fire and preventing it to migrate into the living space of the residence.

Sergeant Michael Bosco

Officer Trevor Stuck

Officer Douglas Klinefelter

Officer Taylor Nauman

Officer Jesse Bloom

The above officers were dispatched to various addresses located within Newberry Township and the municipalities it serves in the year 2018, for individuals whom were unresponsive and believed to have overdosed on an unknown drug.  These officers administered Naloxone to the subjects as well as provided other treatment to them which ultimately resulted in the subject’s survival. Their intervention is a direct reflection on this agencies commitment to combat opioid related deaths within our community and provide this struggling individuals with another chance at life. 

Peggy Clark

Nicole Wible

The above two administrative assistants are employees that truly deserves recognition.  They are extremely organized and focused on continuously learning and developing best practices to manage routine activities both efficiently and effectively. These individuals bring true professional attributes to the department and genuinely cares about delivering excellent quality work. Not only do they complete excellent work, but they assist every officer in the department in one facet or another to ensure quality work is produced