VIDEO: Manalapan Police Officers Award Ceremony

On June 15, an award ceremony was held in honor of Manalapan's police officers during the Township Committee meeting.

The courtroom was filled with appreciative friends and family members as commemorating certificates were given to several officers for their years of dedication and heroic acts.

Several of the officers are celebrating anniversaries of honorable service. They are listed below:

Five years of service

Officer Robert Herring

Officer Dennis O’Brien

Ten years of service

Officer Jennie Hensley

Officer Brian Cruse

Officer Peter Curran  

Officer Edward Hedden

Officer Steven Turner

20 years of service

Lieutenant Jeffrey Morrell

Captain Christopher Marsala

25 years of service

Chief Louis Moreto

Also recognized for five years of service  to the Manalapan Police Department were Jenny Rosado and Michelle Miller.

Special recognition:

The Merit Service Award went to Patrolman Bart Mattaliano and Sgt. Kevin O'Donnell for responding to the call of a suicidal man. Although the man had threatened the officers with a knife, they were able to stabilize him and brought him to the hospital for evaluation.

Officer Kimberly Whitehill received the Administrator of the Year Award presented to her by Monique Dujue, a representative of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

Before presenting the award to Whitehill, Dujue said that she has had a fantastic impact on the program and children of New Jersey.

“She is one of the most positive officers, one of the most passionate, and committed officers that I have seen representing D.A.R.E. New Jersey.”

Among the other recipients were Patrolmen Kevin McIntosh and Seth Kreizman, who received the Life Saving Award for rescuing a 65-year-old female who was in respiratory distress.

The victim fell in cardiac arrest, and the officers “went through two bottles of oxygen and continued to work on the patient doing two-person CPR,” said Captain Chris Marsala, presenter of several of the awards. 

The officers worked on the victim for nearly 30 minutes until the arrival of paramedics, and “the victim was transported to the hospital alive and breathing.”

Officer Dan Carey went home with three honors that night. 

He and Patrolmen Kenneth Mikulik and Peter Chalfin received the Drug Buster Award, a new award that was created specifically for them.

“The three officers combined made an outstanding 53 drug arrests,” said Marsala. “Manalapan Township became a little bit safer.”

Carey also won the Educational Award for completing an ambassador degree at Stockton State College while working as an officer full time.

With nearly seven years on the force, he is the leading officer in number of arrests, a member of the Department Honor Guard, and a firearms and weapons instructor.

For all of his combined efforts and dedication in the past year, Carey earned the Officer of the Year Award.

Mayor Andrew Lucas and Committeeman Jordan Maskowtiz, a former N.J. State Trooper and the liason to the police department, helped distribute the awards.

“Thank you so much, all of you for providing the service. Not only for the outstanding officers that were awarded this evening, but for the service to this community,” said Lucas at the close of the ceremony, “for the great jobs you do and for keeping Manalapan a safe place. Thank you so much.”

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