Police Personnel Recognized as Patriots

On Monday, Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey and Telecommunications Director Kim Knutsen received the Patriot Award from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

ESGR works under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense to promote employers’ support of the military service of their employees. Employers qualify for the Patriot Award by implementing policies that support employee participation in the U.S. National Guard and Army Reserve.

Turvey and Knutsen were nominated for the award by U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2) Timothy Harris, whose wife, Rebecca, has worked as a Romeoville police and fire 911 dispatcher for nearly four years.

Although as a police and fire dispatcher, Rebecca has been trained to anticipate a wide variety of scenarios, she said her husband’s nomination came as a surprise to her.

“I didn’t even know about it until the chief was contacted,” Rebecca said.

Tim has been serving with the 310^th Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC) in Iraq since February. A 1989 Romeoville High School graduate, he has been in the Army for more than 20 years.

While Tim is in Iraq serving his country, Rebecca keeps the home fires burning in New Lenox with the couple’s seven children: Samantha, 18, a freshman and Romeoville Fire Academy student; Jaymi, 15; Brindyn, 9; Wyatt, 6; Sean, 6; Zoe, who is nearly 2; and a godson, Don, 21, who lost his parents and became Tim’s ward as a teen.

But while Tim may be thousands of miles from home, the Patriot Award nominations prove that the impact of the support his wife and family has received from the has not been lost on him.

Once, when Tim was away on a training mission, Rebecca had emergency surgery for what later turned out to be cancer.

“My dispatcher family checked on me every day, offered babysitting services, cooked dinners, sent cards and stepped in like a second family,” Rebecca said.

And her coworkers went above and beyond the call of duty again this spring, when Tim came home for two weeks of R and R (military slang for rest and relaxation).

“Tim had one request,” Rebecca said. “He did not want to go someplace with sand and sun, so the beautiful mountains of Washington state is where we headed. We were also lucky to have him home for his birthday, so we spent a lot of family time together.”

Rebecca said that thanks to her bosses and coworkers at the police department, she and her family were able to enjoy Tim’s entire leave together.

“The village did not have a policy for spouses of deployed soldiers with regards to leave - not because they misunderstood the importance, but because I am the first,” Rebecca said. "FMLA (the federal Family Medical Leave Act) only guarantees five days leave during R and R. The rest of my leave the chief and Kim encouraged other dispatchers to work with me on making sure I could get (Tim’s) whole leave off.”

She said one of her fellow dispatchers even gave up a vacation with airline tickets and the chief approved overtime so fellow dispatchers could cover her leave.

“My husband was so pleased that they worked so hard to allow the leave under the constraints of current policy that he bought the department a gift and made the nominations,” Rebecca added.

Tim’s gift, which is displayed in a glass case in the police department lobby, is a commemorative “T-Wall,” which Rebecca describes as a large cement wall that surrounds desert bases for protection from enemy fire.

“With several bases closing in Iraq it is a big deal for T-Walls to come down,” Rebecca explained. “It’s a very special souvenir representing how far our troops have come in Iraq. My husband sent the gift to the department to thank them for the assistance with my R and R leave.”

“I thank the Romeoville Police Department for recognizing that my husband is not the only one that serves our country,” Rebecca said. “Spouses take on an indescribable role with a heavy heart. A piece of me is in Iraq, too.”

The Patriot Awards Turvey and Knutsen received will soon be on display as further thanks for the police department’s support of the Harris family. But Turvey said Tim Harris and his family are really the ones who deserve to be thanked.

“It’s the least we can do,” said Turvey of his department’s gestures to help the military family. “We appreciate their sacrifice.”