Officers, Park Staff and Civilians Honored at Natural Resources Police Event

Officers, park rangers and lifeguards were honored for two rescues involving nine boaters off at Sandy Point State Park during a dangerous storm.

Officers, park employees and civilians were honored for their contributions to conservation law enforcement in 2015 during the Maryland Natural Resources Police annual awards ceremony.

The event, Thursday evening at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, highlighted acts of heroism and extraordinary effort. It also spotlighted the work of some of the agency’s top achievers with the awarding of the Officer of the Year, Conservation Officer of the Year, Boating Officer of the Year and Special Services Officer of the Year.

Officer First Class John Bunting, assigned to the Lower Eastern Shore, was named Officer of the Year. He also received three Awards of Merit─the agency’s second-highest honor─for helping save a crash victim from a burning vehicle, for recovering a victim in high seas, and for capturing a felon after a stabbing in Ocean City.

Cpl. Andrew Wilson, assigned to the Upper Eastern Shore, was named Conservation Officer of the Year. Wilson, who was officer of the year last year, impressed the awards committee with the sweep and depth of his law enforcement efforts, ranging from oyster poaching cases to illegal hunting activities. Wilson also received the Shikar-Safari International Club’s Wildlife Officer of the Year award.

Cpl. Hugh Brohawn, assigned to the Annapolis area, was named Boating Officer of the Year, his third such honor in the last decade. Brohawn consistently spearheaded the agency’s “Operating While Impaired” efforts, with arrests last year that spanned the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, from Baltimore to Kent Island, and in Ocean City.

Cpl. Michael Lathroum was named Special Services Officer of the Year for his work in the Criminal Investigations Section on 16 fatalities across the state in 2015. In addition, Lathroum was the lead investigator on several high-profile wildlife cases, including a joint investigation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sgt. James Johnson Jr., assigned to the Annapolis area, was selected by the Maryland Park Service as its Officer of the Year.

Johnson, along with Sgt. Donald Mackall, also received an Award of Merit for rescuing a total of nine jet skiers and boaters during a dangerous summer storm off Sandy Point State Park. Officer First Class Kristen McFarland, park lifeguards Isela Hernandez and Nathan Cmiel, and park rangers Maria Reusing and Alison Woodfield received Superintendent’s Certificates of Appreciation.

Awards of Merit also went to: Officer First Class David Bloxom, Cpl. Matthew Corbin, Officer First Class Jacob Coxon, Cpl. Brandon Davis, Officer First Class Maureen Ferguson and Officer First Class David Wilkinson.

Michael Kane, assistant state’s attorney for St. Mary’s County, was awarded a Superintendent’s Certificate of Appreciation for his vigorous prosecution of conservation cases, including one that led to the revocation of a serial oyster poacher’s commercial license.

Also receiving a Superintendent’s Certificate of Appreciation for assisting Natural Resources Police officers were Nicholas Austin Barnett, Maryland Park Service Ranger Curtis Dale, and Dr. Cindy Driscoll and Dr. Erica Miller

Certificates of Appreciation also were awarded to Officer First Class Bryan Hughes, Officer First Class Robert Karge and Officer First Class Matthew Moffitt for leading investigations that broke up deer poaching rings.