West Hepfield honors officers

Rohrbaugh

Bowermaster

The West Hempfield Township Board of Supervisors presented two officers with awards as well as naming one of the officers as the 2010 Officer of the Year at their regular scheduled meeting on March 1. Officers Richard C. Bowermaster, Jr. and Bradley J. Rohrbaugh were each presented with
the Commendation Award and Officer Bowermaster was named Officer of the Year.
“These officers are being recognized for investigations that they conducted that went well above what is
expected of officers assigned to patrol.” stated Chief Mark G. Pugliese, “In both cases, their investigations
lead to arrests of several individuals and cleared multiple cases for several different jurisdictions. In one case, the investigation cleared cases in another county as well.”
The Commendation Award is awarded to any employee for an outstanding act that involved performance above and beyond the employee's basic assignment.
It is awarded to police officers of any rank for outstanding per-formance of duties under unusual, complicated, or hazardous conditions.
This year there are 2 recipients of the Commendation Award for 2010.
In the fall of 2010 the West Hempfield Township Police Department received two complaints of ATM machines being broken into at a Mountville Borough location. Officer Richard Bowermaster received some information while on patrol and with this information, he was able to developed several suspects and learned that the individuals may have perpetrated criminal acts in other jurisdictions as well. Through Officer Bowermaster’s actions, he along with officers from 6 other law enforcement agencies in both Lancaster and York Counties were able to arrest seven individuals for their involvement in eight thefts, six burglaries, one stolen vehicle as well as other criminal offenses.
Officer Bowermaster worked tirelessly including hours that he was scheduled off-duty to bring this case to prosecution. Officer Bowermaster coordinated the investigation so well that his work was complimented by a long time detective from a neighboring department.
In June of 2010, Officer Bradley Rohrbaugh received a report of a stolen vehicle from a residence in West Hempfield Township. This vehicle was subsequently recovered by the department in Mountville Borough. Officer Rohrbaugh received consent from the vehicle’s owner to search the vehicle and in doing so recovered several cell phones and a GPS that were determined not to belong to the vehicle owner. Using the phones and the GPS unit, Officer Rohrbaugh was able to locate victims and witnesses that ultimately lead to the arrests of three juveniles for offenses that included vehicle theft, burglary, defiant trespass and theft from a motor vehicle. The juveniles’ crime spree spanned over theee jurisdictions and in all, property was returned to seven  victims.
Officer Rohrbaugh’s diligent investigation started with a couple of cell phones and a GPS unit led him to several prosecution and clearing cases in three municipalities. Commendation Award is hereby awarded to Officer Bradley J. Rohrbaugh.

Officer of the Year

Officer of the Year is awarded to an officer who distinguished him/herself through either an accumulation of exceptional contributions or a single incident, and whose actions clearly place the individual well above others of equal rank or grade. Areas of recognition include, but are not limited to: extraordinary valor, positive community impact, administrative accomplishments, crime prevention, training programs, traffic safety and innovative approaches to public service. This individual shall have truly represented the department in a favorable light, having reflected the vision andmission statements in their daily actions.
The 2010 Officer of the Year is awarded to Officer Richard C. Bowermaster, Jr.
Officer Bowermaster is a 10-year veteran of the police department having been hired in 2003. Even though Officer Bowermaster is assigned to the Patrol Division, heconstantly and diligently handles investigations as a seasoned investigator would.
Officer Bowermaster can be relied upon to handle his investigation with dedication and tenacity. Officer Bowermaster’s investigative skills reflect credit upon himself and bring credit to the department.