The new officers are: Shalon Blake, Azale Carter Reynolds, Silvester Fonville, Adrianna Petinga, Hansel Ramos-Reynoso, Andres Ayala-Cabrera, Christopher Campbell, Christian Feliciano, Tyman Gordy, William Harned , Salvatore Marciante, Dylan Perez, Aidan Richardson, Moustafa Maarouf, Tahsin Hossain, Jorge Cruz, Kyle Bender, Alex Torres, Francis Malloy, Michael Regalbuto, Sabri Drinks, Glen Robinson, Trevor Brenner, Singleton McNeil , Andy Nunez-Santos, David Vo, Jermaine Clay, Giovanni Berardis and Joshua Munyon.
The past week was a good one for the Atlantic City Police Department as several officers were honored by City Council and 29 more joined the full-time ranks.
Resolutions honored officers for peaceful outcomes in three incidents that involved weapons, with two later proven to be fakes.
“In the current climate it is necessary to hold police officers accountable for improper behavior, it’s also necessary to identify and commend proper actions of police officers and to hole them up as examples to the law enforcement community and the community at large,” the resolutions read.
“I was just responding to a call and doing my job,” Sgt. Mohammed Kaiser said as he stood before council Wednesday night.
It turned out that Victor Martinez had a toy gun.
But it led to the arrest of the man who was a suspect in burglary investigations.
The investigation was aided by Detective Dawn Riggs, and Officers James Eckert, Brandon Bower and Leah Giercyk, who were also named in resolutions.
A day earlier, a ShotSpotter alert led to an “uncooperative suspect” who went inside a residence and retrieved a rifle.
Work by Detective Schuyler Davis, and Officers George Mancuso, Wahab Malik, Ivaylo Ivanov, Byron Zelaya-Chavez and Sandra Lino-Melo led to a peaceful resolution.
That gun too turned out to be a toy.
But it was a real gun that was used to wound two men in July, leading police to rear of a three-story dwelling in the 1700 block of Atlantic Avenue.
Lt. Alexus Zeilinger — who has since been promoted to captain — was able to make contact with the suspect, a 13-year-old boy.
The peaceful resolution highlights the department’s focus on de-escalation, City Council noted.
But Zeilinger gave credit to the young boy and his family for keeping things from going bad.
She thanked the family for “entrusting me with their safety.”
“That young man is an example of someone who — when you put trust in the police and the police exchange that trust with you — that good things come out of that,” she said. “Although it wasn’t the best situation, the young man was able to come out safe with his family.”
City Council also honored Chief James Sarkos, saying his leadership has led to just one excessive force complaint last year.
But Sarkos gave credit to the men and women of his department.
“Any success I’ve had is due to their hard work and dedication,” he said. “They deserve all the recognition.”
That group grew this week, with the addition of 29 new full-time officers, along with the promotion of Officer Jeffrey Braasch to sergeant.
