Washington police give annual recognition awards

The city of Washington announced awards for high achievers in the department and supporters in the city at a council meeting Tuesday night.

“I’d like to take a quick moment to say thank you to Chief (Jim) Lester and our officers,” said Mayor Jaron Rosien. “For not only the work that you do every day, but for the work that you did on the day of the home explosion … I think it’s incredible that our first responders were our neighbors.”

Sergeant Ben Altenhofen was recognized as officer of the year for 2021.

“Ben has been a member of the department since 2015, he’s an ILEA certified defensive tactics instructor, field training officer and A.L.I.C.E Instructor,” Police Chief Jim Lester said in a statement. “Altenhofen’s supervision and dedication in the development and organization of the department’s evidence procedures is vital in the successful prosecution of criminal cases.”

Altenhofen said he was honored by the award.

“It feels great … I wasn’t expecting it but I really appreciate it, ,” he said. “We had a really busy year this past year, so the recognition’s nice, but really all of our officers deserve recognition, it’s been a tough couple of years for our police department with the amount of calls for service we’ve been having.”

Altenhofen and Officer Ethan Hansen were both commended for their service on Jan. 4 last year, when a house exploded while they were on duty.

“They arrived and they jumped right in,” Lester said. “They took care of a teenager who was injured, passed him off to a citizen … (and) when different parts of the rubble were on fire, a gentleman was pointed out by a few UP Home staff, the officers moved in and assisted getting that man out of the rubble and to an awaiting ambulance.”

For the first time, the department also recognized a number of city residents as “friends of public safety.”

“We wanted to recognize members of our community who stepped up and helped at certain times,” Lester said. “This (explosion) incident was one of those, where we had five individuals put themselves there to help us out.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com