18th Annual TOP COPS Awards LAPD Officers Recognized for Bravery NR11223rf

Washington, D.C.:  The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) President Thomas J. Nee and Executive Director William J. Johnson recently announced NAPO’s list of winners and honorable mentions for the 18th Annual TOP COPS Awards®.  

NAPO has announced that the Los Angeles Police Department has been recognized with four  personnel chosen to receive the award:

Police Officer II Gilberto Rendon, Jr.
Police Officer II Richard Garcia
Sergeant Greg Garcia
Sergeant John D. Shah

Each year since 1994, NAPO has presented the TOP COPS Awards® Ceremony to help educate the American public about our nation’s heroes and to pay tribute to law enforcement officers in federal, state, county, and local agencies from across the country for actions above and beyond the call of duty during the preceding year.  All TOP COPS® are nominated by fellow officers through an independent selection committee of national law enforcement representatives.  Prospective recipients are selected from hundreds of nominations that include one TOP COP® case from each of the 50 States and U.S. territories.  Officers from the top ten cases are then  selected as the 2011 TOP COPS®.  In each remaining state, one case has been selected for which an officer will receive an Honorable Mention award.  (Please see attached list of winners).

“The TOP COPS Awards® provide an opportunity for all of us to recognize some of the brave men and women in America’s law enforcement community who selflessly put their lives on the line day in and day out” said Johnson.  “Law enforcement officers care deeply about citizens and communities they serve, and this honor is one way of letting them know their contributions are not taken for granted.”

The 18th Annual TOP COPS Awards® ceremony will be held at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 12, 2011.

The Master of Ceremonies for the 2011 TOP COPS Awards® is John Walsh, host of FOX’s America’s Most Wanted.  Many celebrities from NBC’s hit programs Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and CBS’s NCIS, Cold Case and CSI: Miami as well as NFL Hall-of-Famer John Riggins, will serve as award presenters.  In past years, civic leaders including the President and Vice President as well as the Attorney General of the United States have helped honor these brave men and women by attending and speaking at the ceremony.

All proceeds from the TOP COPS Awards® benefit the Police Research and Education Project (PREP), Napo’s 501(c)(3) sister organization, which promotes the well-being of officers and their families and educates and informs the public about the role of law enforcement in a democratic society.

NAPO is a coalition of more than 1,000 police units and associations representing 241,000 rank and file law enforcement officers from across the United States.  For more than 30 years, NAPO has been instrumental in the passage of many important laws protecting citizens and police officers.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Some TOP COPS® and Honorable Mention honorees will be available for print and broadcast interviews prior to the ceremony on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Please contact Elizabeth Loranger at eloranger@napo.org or 703-549-0775.