Gurnee honors six officers for enforcing traffic laws

The village of Gurnee honored six officers Monday night who were exceptionally skilled and devoted to enforcing traffic violations, including pulling over drivers who are under the influence of alcohol.

Three of the officers were honored for their DUI arrest work, including Officer Michael Lambert, who earned a pin for conducting 25 DUI arrests; Officer Dan Ruth, who earned a pin for conducting 50 DUI arrests; and Officer JR Nauseda, who earned a pin for conducting 300 DUI arrests.

"I don't know if you realize that these are the front line guys, they're here on the road saving our lives," Cathy Stanley, of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, said during the ceremony. "Each one of the people that they arrest could possibly hit you or hit somebody else if they hadn't been stopped by the officers."

Stanley serves as the director of court monitoring for the alliance, which is funded by a grant from IDOT, and she said she sees officers like those honored Monday putting in long hours to testify at trials.

"I don't know how many hours they put into it," Stanley said.

Three other officers were honored for their efforts enforcing general traffic including offenses likely to lead to serious injuries in the case of crashes such as speeding and failure to wear a seat belt. Those officers were Officer Matt Bendler, Officer Marcian-Bogdan Butur and Officer Michael Stoner.

"We're just really proud of the effort that they put forth," Gurnee Police Chief Brian Smith said of the officers after they were honored. "Traffic safety is always a priority in Gurnee and they're a testament to hard work and dedication to get that job done."