The Port of Portland Police Department recently held its annual awards ceremony to recognize exceptional performance and outstanding contributions to the department and community by both employees and citizens. Join us in congratulating the award recipients and celebrating their notable accomplishments.
Lifesaving Award
The Lifesaving Award is given to an employee who is directly responsible for saving a life by rendering aid or taking swift and skilled action.
Officer Garland Porter encountered an injured person and provided aid until medical personnel arrived. While keeping them calm, Officer Porter also gathered information needed to find the person responsible for the injury.
When police and fire crews were dispatched on a medical call, Officer Greg Stevens arrived prior to EMS and realized the patient needed an AED. He applied the AED, provided useful assistance to the crews on scene and even stayed and helped remaining crews clean up.
Meritorious Service Award
The Meritorious Service Award is awarded to an employee for demonstrated exceptional service in a duty of great responsibility or of critical importance to law enforcement. The award recognizes great competence in a stressful situation or for performance well beyond expectations in an investigative or special capacity.
Sergeant Pete Brenner, serving as a General Service Detective at the time, took on the role of co-lead investigator in response to an incident at the Embassy Suites Hotel. Over the course of the investigation, Sergeant Brenner demonstrated outstanding performance in this role, leading to the identification of multiple suspects in the case.
Officers Erik Hargrove, Ramiro Martinez and Dio Morales III were honored with for their incident response at the Embassy Suites. They went on the scene without hesitation, then transitioned seamlessly from live-saving efforts to establishing a crime scene.
Officers David Baker, Jack Dunteman, Ulises Soreque, and Christopher Tugwell also received this award for their response to the call for service at the Embassy Suites. On the scene, officers encountered individuals fleeing the scene and prevented them from leaving. They took these individuals into custody and rendered medical assistance. The officers conducted themselves thoughtfully and selflessly to protect the public and apprehend those responsible.
Officer Ulises Soreque provided backup for Officer Garland Porter while Porter administered first aid to an injured man. Officer Soreque handled himself calmly, found the suspect's vehicle, and took them into custody without incident.
Officer Garland Porter encountered an injured person and provided aid until medical personnel arrived. While keeping them calm, Officer Porter also gathered information needed to find the person responsible for the injury.
Police Chief Jason Wallis, Officer Pete Brenner and Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
Police Chief Jason Wallis, Officer Jack Dunteman, Officer Ulises Soreque, Officer Christopher Tugwell and Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
Police Chief Jason Wallis, Officer Ulises Soreque and Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
Police Chief Jason Wallis, Officer Garland Porter and Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
Chief’s Commendation
The Police Chief may select employees each year for special accomplishments significant to the operational success of the department.
Sergeant Jan Childers worked with Lieutenant Jarmer (Retired), Traci Stannard and the Multnomah County District Attorney to get our body-worn camera program running. As the Training Sergeant, she oversees and coordinates the training itinerary and equipment issuance for new hires. She also has always been a volunteer for department events, community engagement and supporting charities.
Police Clerk Traci Stannard also worked with the Multnomah County District Attorney our body-worn camera program running. Traci monitors meta-data, prepares evidence for the DA and provides ongoing training and updates.
Unit Citation
The Unit Citation is presented to a unit of two or more officers, multiple units, multiple employees both internal and external, sworn, and non-sworn, working together to accomplish a common task in an effective and professional manner. This award may also be considered when several members of a given unit, or units, participate in an operation where it is difficult to isolate the specifics acts of everyone who contributed to its successful culmination.
Recipients:
- Port of Portland Police Department Investigations Unit
- Oregon State Police Major Crime Section – Portland
- Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Detectives Unit
- Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office
- Gresham Police Department Investigations Division and CSI
- Portland Police Bureau Special Resources Division Crisis Response Team
In this profession, partnerships are extremely important for interoperability, collaboration, information-sharing to serve our victims and to serve our communities. The Port Police thank these agencies for their hard work and dedication – their partnership is valued.
Department Recognition
Department recognition is presented to an employee (sworn or non-sworn) for outstanding performance of duty. The performance may be during a single incident, over an extended period of time, or for contributing to the success of a project or program.
Officer John Truong (Retired) acted as an ambassador to the Port's stakeholders, passengers and the victims he assisted. He was active, visible and reliable, and could always make you laugh!
Detective Will Huffman (Gresham Police), Detective Kevin Odil (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office), Detective Justin Pick (Gresham Police) and Detective Jon Zwick (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office) assumed assisting, investigative roles alongside Port Police during the Embassy Suites Hotel investigation. Detective Tyson Conroy from the Gresham Police assumed a full-time co-lead investigative role with Port Detective Brenner. Detective Zwick assumed the full-time “desk” role for this investigation and Detective Kevin Odil assumed the role of warrant writing.
In March 2023, the Port Police once again received much appreciated assistance from our partners to cover these important investigative roles: Detective Pick was an investigation co-lead with Port Detective Jenn Ritschard, and Gresham Police Detective Fredrick Huffman assumed the investigative “desk” role.
These detectives are recognized by the Port Police for their outstanding performance of duty and successful progress on two investigations.
Community Partnership
Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
The Community Partnership Award is presented to a business, organization or individual who worked in partnership with the Port Police to provide outstanding service to the community in a project or over an extended period of time.
Pamela Baula serves as a recruiting partner, directing police background investigations, psychological investigations and all other steps of the pre-hire process. Her commitment to the values of the Port Police plays a huge role in finding talent for the department, and her efforts have helped make the hiring process more successful than ever.
Dutch Bros. PDX Travel Center worked with the Port Police to cut down on repeated incidents in their parking lot. In collaboration with owner Kevin Murphy, his managers and other employees at Dutch Bros., they came up with a solution to prevent loitering and crimes on the premises. This community partnership lasted for months and the Dutch Bros. team continues to have a great relationship with the Port Police to this day.
Currently active employees involved in this partnership include:
- Kevin Murphy - Owner
- Tannyn Cowlishaw - Regional Manager
- Delaney Joncek - Manager
- Paige LaVaque - Assistant Manager
- Lawson Parkhurst - Shift Lead
- Thien Hoang - Shift Lead
- Mariah Young - Shift Lead
- Hannah Donaldson - Barista
Police Officer of the Year
Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
The Officer of the Year Award is presented to the commissioned law enforcement officer who consistently performed outstanding service to the department, citizens and community throughout the calendar year.
From Jan. 1, 2022, to July 25, 2022, Officer Garland Porter was involved in more than 145 traffic stops, 55 recovered stolen vehicles and 16 warrant services. He has also worked well over 260 hours of overtime and is the highest performing patrol officer in the department. In addition, Officer Porter recently applied to be on the Metropolitan Explosive Disposal Unit and is taking self-motivated steps to further his career. He sets an example for his peers, motivates his teammates and maintains a positive attitude at all times.
Staff Member of the Year
Assistant Police Chief Cory Chase
The Staff Member of Year Award is presented to the non-sworn employee who consistently performed outstanding service to the department, citizens and community throughout the calendar year.
Police Clerk Jenae Moore expertly takes on the responsibilities of payroll and training records with Oregon's Department of Public Safety Standards & Training, sometimes even working alone in her records position. Jenae excels in all of her work, greeting everyone warmly and radiating a friendly presence and great attitude.