Thomas Guerry Award Winners Recognized

The 2013 recipients of the 45th Annual Thomas Guerry Award to recognize outstanding law enforcement officers in Santa Barbara County

The Santa Barbara Citizens Council on Crime awarded 18 law enforcement officers at the 45th Annual Thomas Guerry Awards Ceremony on May 29. Those recognized came from the California Highway Patrol, the UCSB Police Department, Lompoc Police Department, Santa Maria Police Department, Santa Barbara County Probation, Santa Barbara Police Department, and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department. Each of the following officers was awarded for Superior Performance for the year of 2013:

• Officer Christopher Terry of the California Highway Patrol, for his development of Critical Incident Teams to improve local law enforcement response to fatal collisions and protocol for the investigations following.

• Detective Dawn Arviso of the University Police Department at UCSB, for taking over the Rape Aggression Defense program, working closely with the UCSB Women’s Center, and improving officer-survivor relations in instances of sexual assault.

• Officer Lucas Signorelli of the Lompoc Police Department, for leading operations to cut down gang violence at Lompoc High School and his dedication to increasing the safety of the campus and surrounding neighborhood.

• Lieutenant Daniel Cohen of the Santa Maria Police Department, for his work as Gang Unit Supervisor and his development of a documentary titled Life Facing Bars, uncovering the details and hardships of the gang lifestyle, with the hope of dissuading local youth from joining gangs.

• Senior Deputy Probation Officer Jeff McGarey of the Santa Barbara County Probation Department, for his work on a sensitive juvenile human trafficking case.

• Detective Brian Larson of the Santa Barbara Police Department, for his collaboration with the FBI, DEA, and other law enforcement agencies in conducting Operation Falling Dawn, a gang sweep that led to 195 felony charges and gun seizures.

• Sergeant Andy Feller and Officer Carl Kamin of the Santa Barbara Police Department, for their response and life-saving actions in an instance of attempted suicide.

• Officer Beth Lazarus of the Santa Barbara Police Department, for her exceptional work ethic as a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) and improving the efficiency of daily duties of all CSI officers by working with multiple departments.

• Deputy John McCarthy of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, for his investigative skills on multiple vehicular theft cases.

• Lieutenant Ugo “Butch” Arnoldi, Senior Deputy Douglas Jones, Deputy Charles Anderson, Deputy Desiree Thome, Deputy Daniel Sandu, Deputy Jarom Kemp, and Cadet Giuseppe Arnoldi of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, for their successful evacuation of several thousand people and a thousand vehicles during the dangerous, out-of-control vegetation fire on Memorial Day 2013 in Los Padres National Forest.

• Investigator Jennifer Glimp of the District Attorney’s Office, for her work leading the Real Estate Fraud Unit, specifically on People v. Cancinos and Alvarez, a 35-victim, 96-felony-count case regarding the scamming of Spanish-speaking homeowners.