Police to be honored at Officer of the Year banquet

Batavia Moose Lodge 682 and the Kane County Chiefs of Police Association will host the 33rd annual Kane County Police Officer of the Year Banquet and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 20. The event will be at Lincoln Inn Banquets, 1345 S. Batavia Ave. (Route 31) in Batavia. It will begin with a social hour at 6 p.m., buffet dinner at 7 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony.

This annual event honors law enforcement officers in Kane County who have been nominated for acts of valor, exceptional courage, humanitarian efforts, outstanding examples of good law enforcement or continuing education and achievement from the previous year. The Louis F. Spuhler Memorial Award is given to the officers selected as the Kane County Police Officer of the Year.

The following officers have been nominated to receive this award and will be honored at this banquet: Officers Thomas Murray and Deborah Scott, Algonquin Police Department; Officer Michael Nilles, Sgt. Thomas Hinterlong, and Officer David Fukutake, Aurora Police Department; Officer Sean Bennett, Carpentersville Police Department; Detective Scott St. John, Elgin Police Department; officers Lorie Hermesdorf and Theodore Vernon Jr., Elgin Community College Police Department; Officer Sarah Sullivan, Geneva Police Department; Officer Justin Harper and Sgt. Leonard Marak, Huntley Police Department; Trooper Timothy Neer, Illinois State Police District 15; Sergeants Eric Fisher and Craig Campbell, Kane County sheriff's office; Detective Sgt. Mike Doty, South Elgin Police Department; and Officer Bryan Kmieciak, South Elgin Police Department.

Director Jonathon Monken of the Illinois State Police will serve as the banquet keynote speaker. For details, call Linda Hagemann at (630) 406-7327.