'This is a Huge Honor': Howard County Police Recognize Best of 2010 (With Video)

Those recognized in this year’s Howard County Police Department awards ceremony were quick to note that they weren’t seeking accolades – they were just doing their jobs.

But the recognition, they say, is quite an honor.

“It’s very, very humbling,” said the department’s police officer of the year, James Zammillo. “We go out every day just trying to make a difference in the communities we patrol. To get recognized for some of the work we’re doing is great.”

Zammillo is one of the nine major award winners congratulated at a ceremony Wednesday evening at Long Reach High School.

The award winners are in elite company, according to Sgt. Michael Johnson, who nominated Zammillo.

“These awards are a big deal to us. This is a huge honor for them to have been nominated, let alone selected as the award recipient,” Johnson said. “It definitely look good for them and for their families and friends who have supported them.”

Zammillo joined the Howard County Police Department as a cadet in July 2004 and became a police officer two months later.

He spent most of 2010 as a patrol officer in the department’s south district, working for a time as the community resource officer in Wilde Lake, the Columbia village that he’s spent much of his career patrolling.

“I’m not really thinking about recognition when I’m doing my job,” Zammillo said. “I’m just trying to provide the best quality of service to the community, to help victims and to treat them as if they were my own mother or my own father.”

One case from last year that stood out to him was a Wilde Lake High School student who was waiting for track practice, only to become the victim of an unprovoked attack, Zammillo said.

“Being able to take the necessary steps to follow through with and close that investigation, we were able to have some closure for the victim’s family,” he said.

Johnson talked up Zammillo’s wide range of duties while on patrol and the dedication he brought to each case.

“He’s handling calls for service, which can include anything from a domestic [dispute] to a school crosswalk detail or a traffic collision,” Johnsons aid. “Despite all of the responsibility our officers have that keep them busy day in and day out, Ofc. Zammillo really stood out as a phenomenal investigator.

“No matter how small the incident, he completed a thorough investigation. He really pursues everything to its furthest extent and exhausts all possible leads, which really sets him apart from other police officers.”

This year’s award winner for outstanding community service is Ofc. Jason Kindel, who has been with the Howard County Police Department since 1998.  In 2010 he worked his regular beat as a community resource officer for the Columbia village of Harper’s Choice, as well as filling in as a resource officer in North Laurel and in the Columbia village of Wilde Lake. For most of the year, he served two communities at a time.

Being recognized is “humbling, considering how many officers are in this department, and the outstanding work each officer does every day,” Kindel said.

Kindel spoke of a number of projects he and other community resource officers were involved in throughout 2010, including a toy drive and the police department’s “National Night Out” campaign, which encourages neighborhood block parties as a showing of community strength and awareness.

In his spare time, he is a football coach for Long Reach High School’s junior varsity team, a role that shows that he’s “not just a guy in a police car,” he said.

Sgt. Johnson also nominated Kindel. Johnson said that Kindel’s involvement shows residents that he isn’t “just about being out in the community and writing traffic tickets and making arrests. It was really about making a huge change in the community and being a good contact and liaison.”

Both officers have been recognized before. This is Kindel’s second time winning the community service award. Zammillo, meanwhile, won the first-year service award in 2005, according to Johnson.

“It just kind of shows that for both of them it wasn’t a one-time thing,” Johnson said. “This is how they’ve continued over their entire careers.”

Another winner of past awards who is being recognized again this year is Kimberly Sikalis, an emergency communications supervisor who was named the department’s Civilian of the Year.

Sikalis, who has worked with the department since 1989, manages approximately 17 people, supervising the taking of 9-1-1 calls and the dispatching for the police and fire departments.

In 2010, Sikalis played a large role in a major upgrade of the department’s computer-aided dispatch system.

“She was involved in that in such a way that the system wouldn’t be as good as it is without her help,” said Sgt. Victor Broccolino. “It was a monumental undertaking, and it took Kim a lot of time.”

Broccolino spoke highly of Sikalis for her normal duties as well.

“She’s positive. She’s fair. She’s an excellent role model,” Broccolino said. The dispatcher’s job, he said, is “very taxing on the body,” one that involves two day shifts of 12 hours followed by two overnight shifts of 12 hours. The job can be stressful, and at times dispatchers are tired, he said.

“Kim’s very aware if a call affects one of our dispatchers,” he said. “If she notices a slight difference in how they look, she’ll pull them aside and see if they’re okay.”

Said Sikalis: “To have gotten this award, it’s my people that made that happen. They are a good team. They work so well.”

For more on the nine major award winners, click these links:

• Police Officer of the Year, Ofc. James Zammillo 
• Civilian of the Year, Kimberly Sikalis 
• Outstanding Community Service Award, Ofc. Jason Kindel
• Scott Wheeler Traffic Safety Award, Ofc. Jeremy Duncan 
• First Year Service Award, Ofc. Symchay “Edward” Bendu 
• Telecommunicator of the Year, John “Rick” DeBow 
• Auxiliary Officer of the Year, Aux. Ofc. Ed Wallace
• Animal Control Volunteer of the Year, Victoria Gaunt
• Explorer of the Year, Briana Jackson