Medal Recipient Search
Thomas Lake, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Public Safety Medal of Merit
On the evening on Nov. 20, 2016, Sgt. Lake was in a marked police S-U-V, stopped at a traffic light in south St. Louis. A motorist pulled alongside and the driver indicated he needed assistance. Lake lowered his driver’s window. The driver then immediately fired two shots from a handgun with an extended magazine, hitting Sergeant Lake twice in the face. Despite being critically wounded, Lake was able to contact dispatch, communicate his location and then provide responding officers with a description of the gunman and his vehicle. The information helped identify the gunman and the vehicle. Later that day, officers located the gunman, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire. An investigation revealed he had been on a two-week crime spree and was wanted for murder and several armed assaults. Despite being critically wounded, Lake played a critical role in protecting fellow officers and the public by providing information resulting in locating the gunman who posed grave danger to the community.
Kenneth R. Belew, UPS Driver, nominated by Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On Dec. 9, 2016, while making his rounds in Union, Mo., a woman handed Kenneth R. Belew a package with a message on it that read simply “Call 911.” Belew took the package without showing any reaction, returned to his truck, drove down the street and immediately contacted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Upon the deputies’ arrival, Belew provided clear, detailed information about what he had observed. It was soon discovered that a woman and child were being held at gunpoint. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded with additional Patrol officers and the SWAT team. When deputies went to the door of the residence, the woman who was being held escaped. The gunman remained inside with a child. After negotiating with the gunman, he agreed to surrender without further incident. Belew’s calm and prompt action in a highly volatile hostage situation resulted in the release of a woman and child being held at gunpoint.
Jeff Lofton, Christian County Sheriff’s Office, Patrol Division Commander
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Director's Leadership Medal
Captain Lofton is Patrol Division Commander of the Christian County Sheriff’s Office, but Lofton is focused on far more than schedules, response times and offense reports. Lofton recognizes community-involvement and engagement are essential to public safety. Captain Lofton’s duties include efforts to educate the public on community law enforcement issues, training citizens on how to better protect themselves and promoting a safer community. Through his leadership of community efforts like the Citizen’s Academy, the Youth Academy, the Women’s Self-Defense Program and the Active-Shooter Response Program, Captain Lofton has excelled at breaking down barriers to communication, developed greater trust between citizens and law enforcement and raise the level of public safety.
Garon P. Mosby, St. Louis Fire Department Command Staff Officer for Public Affairs, Community Engage
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Director's Leadership Medal
Upon his assignment to his position, Captain Mosby set out to fundamentally remake the way the position functions to better serve the public, the media and to elevate the level of safety for the entire community. Mosby is committed to greater access, transparency and utilizing new technology. He has built personal relations with the media, including inviting them to participate in recruit training to better understand the challenges of the profession. He built and sustained relationships within the community and has found new ways to deliver fire prevention messages and critical public safety information to the public. Mosby’s efforts have not only resulted in increased fire safety in St. Louis, and a positive image of the department, it has led fire departments across the nation and even internationally to follow the St. Louis Fire Department on social media and adopt similar outreach efforts.
Tommy St. John, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Lead Tracker for Clay County Veterans and Drug Courts
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Director's Leadership Medal
In his position, Captain St. John oversees a special unit of law enforcement officers who monitor all Veterans and Drug court participants. Understanding the critical role of not just accountability, but trust and understanding, St. John insists that his team members build relationships with the offenders, as well as their family, friends and neighbors, individuals critical in gathering information that can affect the outcome of a case. St. John is not anchored to a desk. He is constantly in the field, leading his team and partner agencies by example. He also preaches “catching them doing good,” by which he means advocating just as emphatically for those who are doing right as he does against those who are doing wrong. St. John is making a positive difference in his community and, in the words of Seventh Judicial Circuit Judge Shane T. Alexander, is “tireless in his dedication and exemplary in the performance of his duties.”
Chief Michael T. Force (Retired), Lake Saint Louis Police Department
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Hall of Fame Award
For a quarter-century, Michael Force was the innovative chief of the Lake Saint Louis Police Department. Under his outstanding leadership, the Lake Saint Louis Police Department grew from 11 officers into a highly professional and respected department with three times that number of officers when he retired in August. As a retired Marine Captain with service at military installations around the globe, Chief Force insisted upon strong values and community involvement from sworn officers and civilian employees. Chief force also took a personal interest in the lives of youth, and regularly personally intervened to help turn lives around. Always engaged with community partners, Chief Force also served as President of the Missouri Police Chiefs’ Association, Chairman of the Missouri Police Chiefs’ Charitable Foundation, Chairman of the Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training Commission, and a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Image and Ethics Committee.
Jeffrey A. Haislip, St. Charles Police Department
2015 Class
Awarded on: 11/28/2016
Medal of Valor
On the night of Feb. 4, 2015, Officer Haislip was first on the scene to a structure fire on North Third Street. Haislip quickly noticed the blaze from a vacant commercial building was spreading to a house just a couple of feet from the burning building. Officer Haislip banged on the storm door to alert anyone inside. When there was no answer, he broke the glass on the storm door and kicked open the wood door, even as flames were racing up the side of the house and across the roof. During his search, Haislip discovered a frightened and disoriented 86-year-old woman who was unable to move. He picked up the woman and carried her outside. With thick black smoke now choking the neighborhood, Office Haislip carried the woman down the street to medical attention at an ambulance. Before the fire service had arrived on scene, and without protective equipment, Officer Haislip’s swift, decisive, selfless action saved the life of a fire victim who could not have escaped her burning residence on her own.
Jason A. Jameson, Boone County Sheriff’s Department
2015 Class
Awarded on: 11/28/2016
Medal of Valor
During a snow storm on the night of Feb. 28, 2015, Boone County Sheriff’s deputies and the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to a homicide scene north of Columbia where two victims lay deceased and a third was in critical condition. Witnesses reported the killer, armed with a handgun, was escaping in a white car. Jameson and a Highway Patrol sergeant positioned their vehicles in an attempt to intercept the fleeing car, and Jameson observed what he believed to be blood on the side of vehicle.
Michael J. Kuss, Springfield Fire Department
2015 Class
Awarded on: 11/28/2016
Medal of Valor
As midnight approached on May 29, 2015, following a major storm and flash flooding, the Springfield Fire Department Water Rescue Team responded to a mutual aid call from the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District. A vehicle had been swept off a bridge over the James River east of Springfield. In the pitch dark, two parents and their three children were desperately fighting for their lives against the swift, churning floodwater by clinging to trees. When the Springfield Fire team arrived, the victims had been holding on for 30 minutes and were yelling that they could not last much longer. A boat rescue attempt was immediately launched, piloted by Rescue Specialist Marc Becker. In the darkness, and with floodwaters roiling, the team’s single boat reached the victims. However, the boat did not have room for all of the victims and the adults were losing the strength to hold on and remain afloat. Firefighter Kuss volunteered to stay behind in the water with the adults as the three children were placed in life vests, pulled into the boat, and moved to the safety of the shore. With their resistance flagging in the frantic situation, Firefighter Kuss’s calm support and instructions for the adults was critical in saving the parents until the rescue boat could return and reunite them with their children on the shore.
Charles L. Gerhart, Missouri Capitol Police
2015 Class
Awarded on: 11/28/2016
Medal of Valor
On July 30, 2015, Officer Gerhart was off-duty and traveling with his family westbound on I-70 to Kansas City. Near Blue Springs, Gerhart observed a pickup truck in the eastbound lanes traveling at a high rate of speed crash into a vehicle that was stopped in construction traffic. The pickup then burst into flames. Gerhart stopped on the shoulder, left his family in his vehicle, ran across westbound traffic, jumped the median barriers, and quickly reached the burning vehicle. The driver had a broken pelvis, broken hip, multiple broken ribs and vertebrae and was trapped in the cab.