Newport Beach police employees honored at 47th appreciation breakfast

More than a dozen Newport Beach police employees took center stage Thursday at the 47th annual Police Appreciation Breakfast to receive accolades for their work in 2017.

City staff, local officials and members of the business community attended the event, presented by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce.

“Each year, we recognize our exemplary employees for who they are and what they do. This year, we also wanted to focus on why they do it. These public servants are just that — servants at heart,” Police Chief Jon Lewis said in a statement.

“Their actions and their lives show that their sense of service is something they bring with them into this profession, something that guides them toward this profession and not something that begins and ends with their duty shift,” Lewis said.

The honorees are:

• Sgt. Jason Blakely: Officer of the Year
• Sgt. Brandon Rodriguez: Sworn Supervisor of the Year
• Records supervisor Connie Frink: Civilian Supervisor of the Year
• Dispatcher Lauren Wyse: Civilian of the Year
• Marc Spiegel: Volunteer of the Year
• Officers Rachel Cox, Bill Hume, Mark Fasano and Ricardo Adame: Lifesaving Awards for acts of heroism in the field
• Sgt. Josh Comte, Sgt. Brad Miller and Officers Jeremy Duenas, Jon Jarema, Chris Kimble, Dennis Maisano and Steve Oberon: Awards of Merit for their work in rescuing a kidnapping victim
• Officer Troy Zeeman: Medal of Valor for helping more than 20 concert-goers to safety in October during the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, despite being wounded by gunfire
• Margaret “Peg” Peterson, an Orange County Health Care Agency employee: Chief’s citation for her work helping the city’s homeless population
• Reserve Officer Steve Schogel: Chief’s citation for implementing the Police Department’s use of Naloxone, a medication used to rapidly reverse opioid overdoses.

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