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Gurnee Police present traffic-safety awards, name civilian and officer of the year
Summary
The Gurnee Police Department honored officers for DUI enforcement milestones and named Communications Operator Howard Thomas as civilian of the year and Officer Tom Yensitz as officer of the year during a June 2 presentation to the village board.
GURNEE, Ill. — The Gurnee Police Department presented its 2024 traffic-enforcement awards at the June 2 village board meeting, recognizing officers for DUI enforcement milestones and naming Communications Operator Howard Thomas as the department’s civilian of the year and Officer Tom Yensitz as officer of the year.
Chief Brian Smith opened the presentation, saying, “For those of you that don't know me, I'm Brian Smith. I have the honor of being the Chief of Police here.” He told the board the department tracks speed enforcement, seat-belt contacts and DUI enforcement as part of its traffic-safety program and noted that “we have somewhere between 225 to 235,000 vehicles travel our roadways every single day.”
The department presented cumulative DUI milestone pins to several officers. Chief Smith named Officer Molly Ishkom, Officer Anthony Kiefer, Officer Liam McNulty, Officer Carla Osorio (not present), Officer Michael Taylor, Officer Robert Vasquez and Officer Zach Herlicka for cumulative DUI enforcement milestones; last year several of those officers recorded multiple DUI arrests, the chief said. The department also presented its traffic enforcement award to Officers Robert Vasquez (first-time recipient) and Patrick Koutras (second consecutive recipient) for strong performance in speed and seat-belt enforcement.
Ari Briskman, a board member with the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, thanked the department and said the group recognizes statewide efforts to combat impaired driving: “DUI enforcement is often a thankless and very difficult task, made so by the hours of report writing and testimony, and it is not often that officers get truly thanked for their efforts,” Briskman said.
Deputy Chief Jeremy Gunn announced departmental honors. He presented the 2024 civilian-of-the-year award to Howard Thomas, who joined the Gurnee Communication Center in 1993 and was cited for emergency dispatch work, data and training support, mentoring and regional leadership. Thomas accepted, thanking colleagues and family, and said, “I want to thank all the people involved in this … none of this would be possible for me anyway, had I not been introduced to this career at a very young age.”
Officer Tom Yensitz was named the 2024 officer of the year. Deputy Chief Gunn cited Yensitz’s field deployments, canine work with partner Leo, leadership in training and a number of critical incident responses, including entries that helped remove people from dangerous situations. Yensitz thanked peers and family and said he and his unit “train hard, we work hard, and it shows.”
The board and mayor offered thanks to members of the department for traffic safety and public-service work; the recognition was presented during the public portion of the evening’s agenda.
