The Pinecrest Police Department has received the prestigious Rocky Pomerance Excellence in Policing award from the Florida Police Chiefs Association for developing a digital solution for sharing Be On the Look Out (BOLO) crime bulletins among law enforcement agencies.
The Rocky Pomerance Award, named for the visionary 20th Century Miami Beach police chief, recognizes excellence in policing and the Pinecrest PD was honored for creating a faster method of sharing BOLOs over a broader spectrum and instantly reaching greater numbers of police.
The initiative was developed by Pinecrest Police Chief Samuel Ceballos, Jr., and the webbased BOLO solution was created in partnership with the Florida International University School of Computing and Information Sciences. Ceballos says the new computer program allows police officers to create BOLO fliers in the field in real time and instantly disseminate them to all police in Miami-Dade County.
BOLO fliers in Miami- Dade soon will be created, disseminated and shared across jurisdictions in real-time from a desktop computer, a mobile data terminal, a computer tablet or a smart phone. The Pinecrest PD is using the technology and other police departments have benefited from the advancements.
“We successfully developed an innovative idea which I believe will contribute in a meaningful way to the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center,” said Ceballos. “I look forward to collaborating with the leaders of the Miami-Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police to implement the web-based BOLO solution and I am grateful to Florida International University for turning our vision into reality.”
Ceballos chairs a committee of the Miami- Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police that was established to move the project from development to implementation.
MADD GIVES PPD 9 AWARDS FOR DUI ENFORCEMENT
The Pinecrest Police Department has been given nine awards for impaired driving enforcement in 2014 by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), including a South Florida Recognition of Distinction award Chief Ceballos.
At the same time, with Village police officers arresting 124 impaired drivers in 2014, MADD tapped the Village PD for a firstplace award for Outstanding Dedication to DUI Enforcement by a small or rural entity in Florida and gave Lt. Derrick Bowman an award for South Florida Recognition of Distinction. Bowman also was the Florida individual nominee for Outstanding Dedication to DUI Enforcement.
Officer Shirley Verde received the South Florida Enforcement Award of Honor and Officer Edison Cruz, manager of the department’s DUI program, became Pinecrest’s first Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) in more than 10 years.
Cruz was cited with South Florida Recognition of Distinction and Florida Outstanding Dedication to DUI Enforcement, and he won MADD’s top 2014 South Florida DRE honor, the William Craig award. He was named a Florida Century Achiever and nominated for the Officer of the Year award.
“It gives me great honor to be part of a department that has excelled in DUI enforcement,” said Cruz, who also received MADD’s top honor in 2012.
“How many lives were saved we will never know, but if only one life was saved it was well worth it.”
