IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jerrell named Officer of the Year

By Andrea McCann, staff writer

Lt. Det. Troy Jerrell of the Linton Police Department was named Officer of the Year for 2004 by LPD Chief Keith McDonald.

"Basically, looking back on 2004, the reason he was picked is that he's been instrumental in helping me with the department," McDonald said.

The chief said his right-hand man is in tune with what he wants done and is an extremely loyal employee.

"He's very deserving," McDonald said. "I'm proud of him. He's an excellent police officer who's worked his way up the ranks. He started out as a dispatcher. He's earned his rank."

Jerrell has a degree in conservation law enforcement from Vincennes University and attended the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. He was a dispatcher for the LPD for a year. Then he went to work for the Worthington Police Department for a year. In January 1996, he was hired as a police officer by the LPD. He worked his way up to detective sergeant, then lieutenant detective.

Above and beyond his regular duties as an officer, McDonald said, Jerrell has attended hostage negotiation school and interviewing and interrogation school. He's a licensed polygraph operator in the state of Indiana. In addition, he has training in homicide investigation, intoxilyzer operation, and the Indiana Data And Communication System (IDACS). He's also a certified instructor through the academy.

McDonald said Jerrell has been the lead investigator on a number of serious crimes, including the Linton Family Pharmacy burglary, in which thousands of dollars worth of prescription drugs were stolen, and the Petro's arson.

"Arson is one of the hardest crimes to prove," he said.

After both the pharmacy case and the arson case, McDonald said, he received calls from the state police lab and fire marshal's office, respectively, with compliments on a job well done. They told him the quality of the crime scene work and the level of professionalism extended was exceptional.

"I was delighted with that," McDonald said. "I don't get those calls often."

Jerrell said it felt good to receive the Officer of the Year Award, which is sponsored by the Linton Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 866.

"It's just a good feeling that the Elks, the chief and the department feel I'm deserving," he said. "I felt it was a pretty big accomplishment."

But Jerrell said he didn't earn the award on his own. He stressed that LPD isn't a one-man operation.

"I'm really proud to work here," he said. "I don't feel like the general public knows what these guys do. They work a lot of extra hours because they like it."

Jerrell is lifelong resident of Linton, where he currently resides with wife April.

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