Orlando officer recognized for valor as Central Florida cops honor their own

An Orlando cop received Central Florida law enforcement’s highest honor Thursday for surviving a struggle with a pregnant woman’s killer, one who tried to shoot him with the same pistol last year.

An account of Orlando police Officer Kevin Geschke’s valor capped a list of awards for the best work in 2008 by local, state and federal police agencies.

“Remember who we work for — the victims who demand and need justice every day,” U.S. Marshals Service Director John F. Clark told about 500 officers gathered for the American Society of Industrial Security’s 12th annual award luncheon at the Rosen’s Shingle Creek Resort. “You are really the true heroes of our time.”

Among those honored was Lake County Deputy Sheriff Kimberley Holtzclaw, who saved the life of a crash victim on County Road 452, near Eustis, by using a shirt to keep the victim’s organs from spilling onto the ground.

A nine-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and local agencies into decades of crack dealing in Kissimmee‘s McLaren Circle won recognition for DEA agents Dominick Braccio, Brian Conlin and David Gallo. Their work helped produce 56 arrests, evidence in three murders and the confiscation of more than six pounds of crack, 18 guns and four bullet-proof vests.

Also honored was U.S. Secret Service Agent Roy Dotson who investigated a Florida-based investment Ponzi scheme and recovered more than $80 million, the largest seizure in Secret Service history, according to Clark.

A new Investigations Award was given to Seminole County sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Pergola who headed up an effort that stopped soaring car thefts and produced a 21-percent drop over the last two years.

Others honored included Osceola County sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Fisher and a tourist crimes squad that solved more than 250 burglaries of vacation homes near West U.S. Highway 192 and more than 100 similar burglaries in Polk County. Such burglaries plummeted 60 percent since the six-member squad arrested two suspects and confiscated $73,000 worth of stolen property connected to the break-ins.

Orange County Deputy Anna Connelly also received a tourist policing award for solving a series of car burglaries in five counties by working closely with private security staffs at hotels and resorts along International Drive.

The annual Peers Award went to Orange County Master Deputy Noel Beary for her work supervising funerals for deputies and officers killed in the line of duty and staying in touch with their families. Over the past year, 10 Florida law enforcement officers died in the line of duty. Those included Orange County sheriff’s Corrections Officer Mark Parker who died in March from gunshot injuries suffered 25 years earlier.

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