Police present awards during first holiday banquet Friday

The Snyder Police Department held its first ever holiday banquet and awards ceremony Thursday evening, first at least as far as those present could remember.
“I think this is the first time we’ve had an awards ceremony in I don’t know how many years,” said Officer Joshua Reeves, who acted as master of ceremonies.
Following a buffet-style dinner, participants moved on to the awards portion of the evening.
Sgt. J.P. Wilson got the ball rolling by presenting a certificate of merit to Sgt. Whitney Merket.
Wilson said Merket, recently promoted to the rank of sergeant, is in charge of the department’s STEP program and is one of the department’s two certified child safety seat techs.
“Sgt. Merket also assists in recruiting in various locations through the department, whether locally or elsewhere,” he said. “Sgt. Merket sets up events in schools, such as meet-and-greets with the children. This allows the officers to be more involved with the children. Sgt. Merket has also acquired the responsibility of the FTO (field training officer) supervisor for the new officers that are hired for our department.”
Sgt. Luke Smith presented a meritorious service award to Sgt. Lea Tarter.
“She’s been chosen for this award due to assisting patrol on numerous activities and being willing to help them out no matter the time of day or week,” he said. “Sgt. Tarter has helped on numerous cases from burglary of vehicles to shootings. Sgt. Tarter was the only detective for roughly six months of this year and all of the previous year. Even with this, she still helped every officer who asked, and she would never say ‘no.’”
A pair of police commendations were awarded by Police Chief Brian Haggard to Vanessa Laureles and dispatcher Lisa Tate.
 “Our sex offenders were being called and basically cheated out of their money,” Haggard said. “They were basically being told they had warrants for their arrest, and being demanded money. Several of them paid. She took it on herself to call each and every one of them and advise them that it was a hoax, it wasn’t true, and not to be paying the money. Even though they’re sex offenders, they also require to be protected by the law like everyone else.”
Haggard said Tate is a longtime member of the police force.
“If y’all don’t know, Lisa has been here longer than any of us,” he said. “I’ve been here 29 years. When I started, Lisa Tate was a dispatcher. Back then there was one dispatcher on duty for the entire county at night. They did all the paperwork, they did all the blotters, they answered the phone calls. Now you look at it, and there’s two or three on duty. What she takes care of in the office behind the scenes, it’s taken a lot of years. She knows the force probably better than all of y’all here.”
Merket presented life-saving awards to officers Maeson Rojas and Markkus Tipton for saving the life of a heart-attack victim in July.
“Officer Rojas did not feel a pulse, so he and Officer Tipton moved the victim to the floor to initiate CPR until medical personnel arrived,” she said. “The victim subsequently regained a pulse, and was transported to CMH (Cogdell Medical Hospital) and later flown to Lubbock. Due to the quick response from Officer Rojas and Officer Tipton and the initiative taken on their part to perform the life-saving measures, they assisted in saving someone’s life.”
Wilson presented a community service award to School Resource Officer (SRO) Bailey Latham.
“She is responsible for setting up and organizing most of the community-related booths and activities,” he said. “She one of three CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) trainers and does so around her SRO schedule. She has also done numerous presentations for the Lions Club, Gold Coats and various other organizations.”
Haggard presented five-year service awards to Latham and to Tanner Garcia, and a 10-year service award to Tarter.
Counts presented the Rookie of the Year award to Officer Ryan Reeves.
“He comes in eager to work every day, and always has a smile on his face. And once we get done talking about him, he’s always got a comment to say about something, too. Always. He’s always striving to learn new things daily, and has progressed rapidly in his law enforcement knowledge and related skills.”
Counts also said Reeves leads the department with 16 DWI arrests this year, of 89 for the whole department.
Haggard presented the Officer of the Year award to Maeson Rojas.
“I can tell you, this year it was real hard to pick someone, because of all the officers that we have in the department,” Haggard said. “Easily these awards could go to a bunch of you. Y’all have done an excellent job. I’m extremely proud of this department and it’s officers.”
Haggard said Rojas was chosen for the award for his leadership throughout the year.
“Officer Rojas is always willing to cover shifts, work overtime and help with any events or activities, and he never complains about the work load,” Haggard said before sharing how Rojas came to be a Snyder Police Officer.
“When I was taking cars up to Lubbock to get them worked on, we’d take our new cars up there to get them outfitted, and Maeson was one who worked on them. I got to talking to him and he went through the academy and said he wanted to come work for us.”