Kevin McAlpine Lifetime Achievement Award
This award was first presented to Chief Kevin McAlpine on October 20, 2005.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is named in honour of retired Chief Kevin McAlpine. ("retired" as he first received the award when he was active as Chief)
This prestigious award is presented from time to time to a retiring or a retired police officer who has spent at least five years of their career as a sworn member of the Durham Regional Police Service and have consistently, over the course of their career exemplified the characteristics of dedication, enthusiasm, leadership and unwavering ethical behaviour.
Award Recipients to Date:
Todd Rollauer 2023
Charlie Green 2015
Chuck Mercier 2009
Bill Temple 2007
Kevin McAlpine 2005
Mike Ewles Community Builder Award
This award was first presented to retired Chief Mike Ewles on October 23, 2014.
The Community Builder Award is named in honour of retired Chief Mike Ewles.
The award is presented from time to time in recognition of Durham Regional Police Service members who have gone above and beyond the call to build bridges between the Durham Regional Police Service and the many communities it serves.
Award Recipients to Date:
Darryl Rice 2023
Janalyn Dowdle 2022
Martin Franssen 2019
Joylene MacNeil 2018
Mike Ewles 2014
2023 Award: Life-saving CPR
Cst. Jeff Tucker observed a participant at a local fitness centre suffering from a heart attack while off duty. He immediately initiated CPR and then placed the ASD on the male, which was successful after only one cycle. Thankfully the male survived due to Cst. Tucker’s quick thinking actions.
2023 Award: Pharmacy Robbery
A team of DRPS members worked quickly and collaboratively to locate the suspects of a local pharmacy robbery. This incident displayed the dedication and commitment by all members involved. By using strategic surveillance and multiple resources within DRPS, the members were able to bring this dangerous situation to a conclusion.
2022 Award: Victim Legislation
Det. Cst. Janalyn Dowdle worked diligently to have new legislation created to protect victims’ families.
2022 Award: Parental Abduction
Det. Paolo Dellipizzi and Ret. Det. Dave McFarlane spent months searching for a child abducted by its father and taken to Armenia.
2022 Dave Selby Civilian Award
This inaugural award was presented to retired Corporate Communications Director Dave Selby in recognition of his outstanding contributions to policing by supporting the Service’s vision, mission and values.
Event was not held due to COVID-19 pandemic. 2020-2021
2019 Mike Ewles Community Builder Award
D/Cst. Martin Franssen for all of his hard work and dedication to seniors frauds.
2019 Award Winner: Knight Homicide
The discovery of the body of an adult woman in the ashes of a burned out house in Pickering shocked everyone. Instantly, thoughts turned to Carmela Knight, who lived in the home with husband David and their two children. But Carmela didn’t die as a result of the fire. The DRPS Homicide Unit kicked into high gear. Suspicions turned into David, but he had an airtight alibi, having taken his kids to hockey practice, and was not home at the time. So who committed this horrible crime?
2019 Award Winner: The Hug
After a heated argument with his parents, a 16-year-old Pickering male storms off, telling them he wanted to jump off a bridge. When he’s told they will call the police, he responds by saying “it would be too late by then.” Constable Sheldon Micallef locates the distraught male at a coffee shop. The officer sits down with the male and begins a conversation. The male says he just wants to jump in front of a train and then, suddenly, runs away. A minor struggle ensues but then, something beautiful happens.
2019 Award Winner: Upside Down, Under Water
As the sun was setting in a remote area of northern Durham Region, Constables Andrew Massey and Matthew Roy were returning a prisoner from an out of region escort, when they heard a call for a car submerged in water south of Blackwater, with the occupants trapped inside. They arrived in one minute to a chaotic scene: a SUV submerged in a deep ditch full of water and they sprang into action.
2018 Award Winner: Project Bradley
Through information received and the development of community partners, the Gun and Gang Unit (G&G) commenced an investigation in the fall of 2017 regarding a person involved in firearms trafficking in Durham Region. Investigative steps were taken and it was determined this individual purchased more than 20 firearms and they had been trafficked. Although efforts were made, the investigators were unable to conclude this investigation though traditional means and it advanced to a wiretap investigation in early 2018. A number of individuals involved in this trafficking network were identified. Their criminal enterprise spanned from Hamilton to Belleville. Members of the G&G worked around the clock on the investigation in an effort to recover these firearms prior to them being used in any further offences.
During Project Bradley, 17 search warrants were executed and 23 people were arrested leading to 184 charges. Investigators seized approximately $155,000 in drugs and $56,000 in cash. Five motor vehicles were recovered Eleven firearms were also seized along with several rounds of ammunition. The majority of guns had serial numbers removed. The Project Bradley team did an excellent job taking dangerous weapons off the street and the dangerous offenders who were responsible for trafficking them.
2018 Award Winner: Bank Hold-Up
An armed bank robbery in Courtice led to a chase and dangerous situation for responding officers. In the spring of 2018, two suspects armed with handguns entered the Scotiabank branch on Highway 2 in Courtice in the middle of the afternoon. The suspects made a demand for cash and then fled the scene.
Responding officers located the suspect vehicle with three occupants and pursued it to the Highway 401 on-ramp at Stevenson Road in Oshawa. Police were able to stop the suspect vehicle and box it in. However, the suspect vehicle attempted to flee from police by striking the police cruisers. At one point, a DRPS officer discharged his firearm as the vehicle drove towards him. The suspect vehicle managed to break free and continued westbound on Highway 401 before losing control and ending up in a ditch just east of the Salem Road off-ramp in Ajax.
The three suspects then fled on foot into a wooded area. A handgun was located in the suspect vehicle and a replica firearm was located near the on-ramp. A short time later, police officers located two suspects hiding in a residential neighbourhood in Ajax. The third suspect was arrested following the investigation.
2018 Award Winner: Longest Air1 Track
A frantic woman calls 9-1-1 in the winter of 2018. Her abusive boyfriend is following her in his vehicle. At one point, he tried to ram her vehicle so she would stop. DRPS dispatch advised her to drive to Central West Division and officers are dispatched.
What ensued was the longest police helicopter track in Ontario and the second longest in Canada. Air1 was in the air and spotted the vehicle, which at times reached speeds of 237 km/h on the eastbound highway 401 near Oshawa. It was at that point, police dispatchers advised cruisers to break off their pursuit and let the Air1 helicopter continue the pursuit using night vision.
After a 154-km chase, taking several hours, which traveled towards Peterborough then back towards Durham, the vehicle drove over a spike belt laid out on Ganaraska Road. The driver then fled on foot into a nearby forest and was seen discarding evidence along the way. OPP ground units were able to apprehend the man in a wooded area.
2018 Award Winner: Project Westmore
In September 2017, Ajax experienced a string of violent robberies and car-jackings that gripped the community in fear. The pair of suspects would surprise unsuspecting victims in their own driveways as they entered or exited their vehicles. During three of these instances, victims were held at gunpoint and forced to drive to nearby banks to withdraw money. Several victims resisted and faced brutal assaults with two being sent to hospital for their injuries.
In response, the Major Crime Robbery Unit and West Division Criminal Investigation Branch formed Project Westmore. The team was made up of a group of very determined investigators who worked tirelessly over a two-week period to identify the suspects and collect evidence.
On November 28, 2017, this crime spree came to an abrupt end after the team observed the pair rob a taxi driver. A high-risk arrest was executed and both accused were taken into custody and charged with more than 60 offences.
2017 Award Winner: Csts. Giovanni Amicone & Saina Saedi-Kendelati
In March of 2017, Csts. Amicone and Saedi-Kandelati were attending an unrelated call for service in Oshawa when a citizen informed them that there was a fire in the high-rise apartment building one street south. Both officers immediately made their way on foot to the location and discovered that heavy smoke and flames were billowing from an upper floor window. With no hesitation, both officers entered the building and made their way to the fiery unit. Heavy smoke had already filled the hallway. Three men were located in the apartment and all were slightly disoriented. This was a full working fire with the majority of the unit engulfed. Both officers removed the occupants, leading them out to safety and then immediately began evacuating the neighbouring apartments. All tenants made it out to safety and as a result of the officers’ actions no injuries were sustained. The Fire Captain credited the officers with getting the occupants out of the building quickly. Both officers kept calm and quickly relayed information as to the whereabouts and removal of occupants, possibly saving a life.
2017 Award Winner: Sgt. Rob Stoddart
In November of 2016, Sgt. Stoddart responded to Lakeridge Health Oshawa for a suicidal male on the roof. He was approximately 130 feet off of the ground. He had a rope around his neck that was secured to framework on the roof. At times, the male would lean over the edge of the roof with the rope around his neck. Sgt. Stoddart made his way to the rooftop with a security guard after several failed attempts to locate an access door to the roof. Several other officers were also scrambling to find the correct access point at this time as well. Sgt. Stoddart approached the male in a calm and concerned manner. The male was at first, very agitated with the presence of police and moved toward the edge of the roof. Sgt. Stoddart quickly established a rapport with the subject, finding a common link between him and the male. They chatted some more and the male moved away from the edge of the roof. At one point, the distraught man turned away from Sgt. Stoddart as they continued their dialogue. The officer feared the male had turned to jump off the roof and saw an opportunity to act. He tackled the male, handcuffed him and cut the rope away from his neck and took him safely into custody away from the edge of the roof with the assistance of the security guard. The male was subsequently apprehended under the Mental Health Act. This event occurred approximately two feet from the roof edge.
2017 Award Winner: Public Safety Unit
In December of 2016 at approximately 6 p.m., the family of an 11-year-old Oshawa girl called police. Their daughter was last seen leaving home at 8:30 a.m. that morning and heading for school. She didn’t return home. It was quickly determined that the girl never attended school that day. She had been recently diagnosed with depression and her family was concerned for her safety. Responding officers immediately commenced a search in the dark and cold conditions, but were not successful. The Public Safety Unit (PSU) was called in to assist. Both on- and off-duty PSU members responded and began a methodical ground search in the heavily wooded areas near the girl’s home. The cold, frightened child was located near thick brush, shivering in the dark and crying. She had stayed outside all day and was not dressed for the elements. Officers spoke calmly and softly to her and she was taken to a cruiser to warm up before paramedics arrived. The quick response and co-ordinated approach of the PSU saved this girl’s life.
2017 Award Winner: Team Effort
A team of dozens of DRPS members, both sworn and civilian, are responsible for taking down a group of violent jewelry thieves. The Robbery Unit was aware of the group who had hit stores in York and Durham. The Unit began working with their counterparts at York Regional Police (YRP) and a team was formed to identify the culprits. The suspects robbed another jewelry store in Oshawa at gunpoint and it became violent, leaving the owner severely beaten. The Robbery Unit was immediately aware of the incident and broadcast a vehicle description from the robbery held the day before. With the help of YRP, a cellphone believed to be involved was pinged. When it pinged to the Clarington area, officers immediately flooded the zone and had a visible presence near jewelry stores. Cst. Lloyd of East Division observed the suspect vehicle and followed strategically. Through the ongoing work of Comms/911, numerous marked vehicles, the OPP and our TSU were waiting ahead when the car entered Highway 401. They coordinated a tandem stop and the suspect vehicle attempted to evade the stop by side-swiping a police cruiser. The box held and all five suspects were arrested. One of the arresting officers was Cst. Chris Crosby who was working his very last shift after a tremendous 35-year career with DRPS.
2016 Award Winner: D/Cst. Bryan Armstrong Aux/Cst. Clint Neuls
A man stood on a bridge on a cold March evening, waiting for the freight train to come. He was determined to end his life. K-9 officer D/Cst. Bryan Armstrong was first on scene along with Aux. Cst. Clint Neuls. D/Cst. Armstrong scrambled up the tall embankment to the train tracks and began a conversation.
2016 Award Winner: Cst. Rob Harding
A Canadian Military soldier and hero from Clarington served this country for seven years in the Canadian Armed Forces. But it was his time in Afghanistan in 2006 that had the deepest impact on his life. His horrific experiences led to years of mental anguish as he wrestled with suicidal thoughts brought on by PTSD.
2016 Award Winner: Cst. Jack Stelwagen
A group of teenager got involved in a fight at Salem Road and Rossland Road on a cold March evening in 2016. Officers were called to the scene to break up the melee.
2015 Award Winner: D/Cst. Wes King
Young girls love to play pretend, but sometimes their boundless curiosity leads to trouble. A four-year-old girl found herself in a life-threatening state while playing pretend with an industrial-strength plastic zip tie. D/Cst. Wes King arrived to find a family in panic.
2015 Award Winner: Sgt. Julia Whittaker
A man, wielding a machete, ran out of a house and refused to drop the weapon. He was surrounded by arriving police officers. A split-second decision needed to be made on how to end the threat. The man’s life is in the balance. Officers from Central West Division were dispatched to a report of a person armed with a machete in a residence. Sgt. Julia Whittaker and fellow officers contained the scene, while the Duty Inspector and Incident Commander attended due to the escalating situation.
2015 Award Winner: Cst. Phil Blandford
A van crashed into a bridge overpass on Ritson Road at Highway 401 in Oshawa. The lone occupant was unconscious inside and the vehicle was on fire. A cab driver was first on scene, frantically trying to open the locked doors to get the driver out. He tried to smash windows to get in–but to no avail. The flames and smoke inside the van began encircling the driver’s body. A thick column of smoke was rising high into the night air. Cst. Phil Blandford arrived on the chilly December morning just before 4 a.m. The two men were able to gain access to the driver and pulled him out as the heat and flames intensified, singeing their hair. The driver’s jacket and pants were on fire, which Cst. Blandford extinguished. The two men pulled the body further away as the fire continued and the van tires began to explode. The driver was transported to hospital with smoke inhalation, significant second-degree burns and a broken femur. The actions of Cst. Blandford and the civilian undoubtedly saved the driver’s life.
2015 Award Winner: Project Lakeland
You warm up your car in the driveway and go back inside to make coffee. When you come out to drive to work, the vehicle is gone. In a few days, it is sold in Africa. Seven people were arrested and more than $1 million in stolen automobiles recovered after a joint forces investigation, dubbed Project Lakeland, into an auto theft ring operating in Durham Region, York Region and Toronto.
2015 Video Tribute Award Winner: Fairview Lodge Fire
A large fire broke out at the Fairview Lodge senior’s residence on Oct. 27, 2014 in Whitby. A thick plume of smoke was seen rising from one of the main buildings as Whitby Fire and the DRPS rushed to the scene. What unfolded was an emergency response that is widely regarded as exceptional. More than 190 of our most vulnerable citizens were safely and carefully evacuated without a single injury being reported. It has been called a text book evacuation–one of the most successful of its kind in Ontario. About 80 DRPS officers and civilians were involved.
2014 Award Winner: Project Pilot
On May 4, 2009, two homicides occurred, setting into motion a chain of events that consumed the past five years for the victims’ families and our police service, as well as our colleagues in the Crown Attorney’s Office.
Harjinder Sandhu and Puneet Chhina were discovered by our officers when they responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle. A project team was assembled in partnership with the RCMP, and the file was identified as a multi-jurisdictional case, with Toronto and the OPP completing the supplemental investigations of one of the key suspects: Vijay Singh.
2014 Award Winner: Human Trafficking
n 2013, members of Central West Division emerged as leaders in the fight against Human Trafficking – a criminal offence better known as “sex slavery.”
In March 2013, Project Spencer focused on human trafficking occurring at various hotels in Whitby. A Whitby man was convicted of Human Trafficking in connection with two girls, aged 21 and 23. This is believed to be Durham Regional Police’s first Human Trafficking conviction.
2014 Award Winner: Cst. Christian Pottle
When parents drop their children off at daycare, they kiss them goodbye and head off to work, run errands or appointments. They assume they have left their children in a safe environment. That is usually the case. But unfortunately, on a cold November day in 2013, it wasn’t.
2013 Award Winners: Project Mansfield
Inspector Bruce Townley, Detective Sergeant Cathy Bawden, Detectives Sean Sitaram and Derek Wohlert, Detective Constables Scott Dennis and Murray Rose, Constables Phil Groenveld and Jennifer Guthrie & Crime Analyst Lori Morrision
2013 Award Winners: Det/Csts. Paul Couvillon, Ed Downey & Keith Lindley
Responding to mental health calls is now all too common in policing. In a recent 19-month period, our officers apprehended 1,753 people under the Mental Health Act. But thanks to our great partnerships with Ontario Shores, Durham Mental Health Services and other community resources, we have specialized training for officers to help them manage these unique calls.
2013 Award Winners: Csts. Chris Giasson, Ryan Mintz, Darryl Rice, Gerry Suthers & Tracey Weightman
There are days when officers are lucky to go home to their families at night, and the day these officers intercepted a stolen vehicle was one of them.
A high-powered stolen car would not stop, despite the efforts of multiple police cruisers. Driving erratically through several Oshawa subdivisions around lunchtime on May 30, 2012, the vehicle avoided the police, smashed into parked vehicles and kept racing around. Constables Gerry Suthers and Tracey Weightman tried numerous times to stop it by blocking it in and confronting the driver. As he evaded capture and kept speeding away, they contacted all available units to help.
2013 Award Winners: Communicators Rebecca Astles, Janice Goodwin, Andrea McDowell, & Megan Tilley
You never know, day to day, what kind of calls you’ll receive as a communicator. From directions to a local restaurant to UFO sightings, they have to be ready for anything.
On this specific night, 911 Operator Rebecca Astles answered the phone and heard the faint whispers of a woman in trouble. Realizing the woman was using an old, unregistered cellphone, and that she didn’t speak English, Rebecca immediately brought in our AT&T interpreter service. The words “husband” and “father” were eventually made out and the fact the woman needed help. The woman did not know where she was.
2013 Award Winner: Cst. Dave Wright
Cst. Dave Wright was on routine patrol when he was dispatched to the report of a collision, but what he was faced with when he arrived was far from routine. It was a horrific car crash and the vehicle was on fire, crumpled around a tree. The front hood was buckled and the entire front end of the vehicle was on fire. The vehicle had two occupants, one in the driver’s seat and one in the front passenger’s seat. Both the driver and passenger were trapped.
2013 Award Winner: Cst. Terry Rayner
Constable Terry Rayner is being recognized tonight for his amazing contributions to the community. Whether it’s running a golf tournament with more than 350 golfers and 50 volunteers, or organizing the donation of 10 iPods to help with a learning program at a school, Terry can be found behind several community initiatives.