Fridley Police Department Honors Officers with Annual Awards

The Fridley Police Department held its annual awards ceremony Wednesday night, honoring nine officers with awards in four categories.

Watch the full City of Fridley video of the Fridley police awards ceremony.

One officer, Nicholas Knaeble, was honored in each category: S.T.E.P. (Selective Traffic Enforcement Program), DWI, Warrant Arrest and Top Gun. 

Family members and fellow officers in the Fridley City Council chambers gave each honoree a round of applause and greeted them afterwards in a reception.

"Sometimes just doing the right thing day in and day out is heroic," said Capt. Bob Rewitzer in closing remarks (Fridley Director of Public Safety Don Abbott was ill and could not attend).

In an interview after the ceremony, Lt. Mike Monsrud said officers don't make more money for winning honors, and pointed out that opportunities for advancement can be few. "These are good cops," Monsrud said.

Officer Kevin Titus racked up the department's second-highest number of traffic citations in the S.T.E.P. category (191) in 2012 despite moving to school duty in September.

Here are the Fridley Police Department award winners:

S.T.E.P. Officer of the Year

• Officer Nicholas Knaeble (224 citations in 2012)
• Officer Kevin Titus
• Officer Joseph Magana

D.W.I. Officer of the Year

• Officer Mark Mickelson (23 arrests)
• Officer Greggory Olson
• Officer Nicholas Knaeble

Warrant Arrest Officer of the Year

• Officer Perry Jones (59.5 arrests)
• Officer Nicholas Knaeble
• Officer Matthew Noren

Top Gun Officer of the Year

• Officer Nicholas Knaeble
• Officer Andrew Todd
• Officer Steve Doane

This was the first awards ceremony to include the Top Gun award for best performance in competition on the Anoka County Sheriff's Office shooting range, although the award itself is not new, Monsrud said.