Mount Prospect's Officer of the Year had busy 2014

Mount Prospect Police Investigator Jack Brogan has been named Officer of the Year, and honored with a ceremony in front of the village board.

"This was Jack's year," Chief Tim Janowick said of Brogan, who joined the force in 1989.

In 2014, Janowick said, Brogan tracked two people who matched the description of suspects who broke into the home of a woman alone, and then helped obtain their confessions.

"As a result," Janowick said, "we send two burglars off to the hoosegow with felony approval for burglary."

In March, he investigated an armed robbery outside of an apartment building near Golf and Busse roads, but found inconsistencies in the stories a husband and wife told about being robbed by someone with a handgun.

The couple were Bulgarian nationals, and Brogan was aware that nonimmigrant crime victims in the U.S. can apply for a special visa, called a U visa. He followed up, and sure enough, the next day the couple filed a visa application.

Brogan went back to the husband, who confessed the robbery was faked in an attempt to obtain a visa. The couple was charged.

In October, he saw a man sprinting out of the Menards and getting into a car in a nearby residential area. About that time, a man who matched the description of the man Brogan had spotted had been attempting to return stolen property at the store. Brogan coordinated the response that led to the man's arrest for felony retail theft.

And in November, during interrogation of a suspect in a drive-by shooting on Algonquin Road near Dempster Street, Brogan was able to "take the shooter and break him down to get him to finally confess," Janowick said. He was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.

Brogan, who also has served as a breath test operator and a field youth officer, is the top candidate for promotion to sergeant.

Runners up for Officer of the Year were Officer David Carlson, Investigator Jonathan Juhl and Officer Maureen Kerrigan.

Carlson, who joined the department in 2011, played a role in the apprehension of a gang member who was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, as well as obtaining information that led to a confession by a would-be burglar.

Juhl worked with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security on a federal narcotics case, resulting in the seizure of seven kilograms of cocaine, $30,000 in cash and seven arrests. He received a commendation for his work in solving a series of burglaries. His investigative work led to the location of a trafficker in child pornography and helped solve a drive-by shooting case.

Kerrigan's shift starts at 6:45 a.m., but she comes in as early as 3:30 a.m. When the midnight shift is busy, she assists by making sure the day shift is set up and bond hearings are ready to go. She serves as training officer and as a mentor for new officers. She earned a commendation for preventing a 13-year-old from committing suicide.