Officers & police dept. celebrate achievements BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer Jonathan Suydam MANALAPAN - On the same evening that the Manalapan Police Department was recognized for having achieved certified accreditation from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police accreditation commission, the department also recognized several of its officers for outstanding service. Mitchell Sklar, the executive director of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, was on hand at the March 28 meeting to award the Manalapan Police Department's accreditation honors to Police Chief Stuart Brown and Capt. Lou Moreto. In his remarks about the accreditation, Brown said Moreto deserved credit for having made it possible for the department to achieve the federally certified accreditation in nine months when it takes many police departments two years to achieve the goal. Brown and Moreto then honored several members of the department. Patrolman Jonathan Suydam, who is the police department's resource officer at Manalapan High School, was honored as the Officer of the Year. Suydam was chosen from a field of several candidates who were nominated for the honor by Brown. The chief said he believes Suydam represents all the best things an officer should strive to represent. Brown said Suydam's duties at the high school have established him as an educator as well as a trusted officer. According to Brown, Suydam holds a bachelor's degree from Trenton State College and a master's degree in science from Jersey City State College. He is an 18-year member of the Army Reserves and is due to deploy to Iraq in the near future. Suydam's wife, Joanne, and sons, Matt and Bobby, were on hand to see Suydam honored by the police department and to listen proudly while the chief touted the officer's many accomplishments. While Moreto said a particularly busy shift kept some of this year's recipients of the department's honorable service award from attending the ceremony, several officers were on hand to receive certificates honoring them for their years of service to the police department. The following service awards were presented: Lt. Kevin Dunkley, 20 years; Detective Joseph Moreto, 20 years; Patrolman Matthew Trembow, 20 years; Sgt. Edward Niesz, 10 years; Sgt. Margaret Freeman, 10 years; Sgt. Kevin Dobbin, 10 years; Patrolman Dominick Donatelli, five years; Patrolman Richard Gallo, five years; Patrolman Michael Ratta, five years. A Gallantry Star was awarded to Patrolman Eric Voorand. According to Moreto, Voorand received his award because on Oct. 7, 2006, the officer encountered a murder suspect just as the suspect was preparing to leave the scene of a homicide. It was 11:16 p.m. when the Freehold Township Police Department received a 911 call from a person who reported hearing gunshots fired in the vicinity of Gravel Hill Road and Fountayne Lane, near the border of Freehold Township and Manalapan. At about the same time, Manalapan police received a call from a person reporting a suspicious vehicle parked in the bushes across from a residential area on Gravel Hill Road in Manalapan. In answering the call, Voorand, who was not identified at the time of the incident nor immediately thereafter as the responding officer, spotted what was later identified as a white 2004 Mazda pickup truck parked in the bushes along Gravel Hill Road. Authorities said the truck was registered to MRA Plaza Inc., 111 Oakland Mills Road, Manalapan. As he checked the area around the truck, Voorand saw a man walking toward him on Gravel Hill Road. As the man came closer, Voorand saw that the man had a gun in his hand. Drawing his own service weapon, Voorand ordered the man to drop his gun, at which time the man placed the gun under his own chin and fired, falling to the ground. That man was later identified as the assailant who had shot three people inside a home on Fountayne Lane. Two of his victims died and one survived. The gunman encountered by Voorand was pronounced dead at the crime scene location at 11:53 p.m. An examination of the gunman's person revealed he had been carrying a revolver and a semiautomatic handgun. Also found was a knife in a sheath and a plastic bag containing live rounds of ammunition. Moreto said had it not been for Voorand discovering the killer's waiting getaway car, he may well have gotten away and possibly caused more harm to other family members of his victims. A Life Saving Award was present to Patrolman Richard Gallo, who performed a life-saving maneuver on a person who was choking in an area restaurant. According to Moreto, it was the consensus of all those present in the restaurant that Gallo's intervention saved the individual's life. An Exceptional Duty Award was presented to Patrolman Edward Hedden for spotting and retrieving a weapon that was loaded with hollow-point bullets while conducting a motor vehicle stop, thereby eliminating the possibility of mayhem being committed with the weapon, according to Moreto. An Educational Achievement award was presented to Patrolman Kevin McIntosh for earning a bachelor's degree.