Bethel Park police announce Merit Award recipients

Three Bethel Park police officers were recently honored for their outstanding work in 2020.

Since 1969, staff and sworn law enforcement have voted annually for the department’s Merit Award recipients, those who have displayed outstanding devotion of duty and service to the community.

Top vote-getters were K-9 officer Andrew Jacobs, followed by detective Joelle Dixon and patrol division Sgt. Colby Grubich.

Each received a plaque and round of applause at the April 12 council meeting.

Chief Timothy O’Connor explained what made these officers worthy of recognition.

“It’s a privilege for me to be able to present these certificates to them and recognize them for their exceptional contributions to our department in a very exceptional year,” he said. “We’re battling the covid crises, and we’re still in an opioid epidemic.

“Some of the repercussions of those two things have put us on a lot of calls throughout the year. It was a difficult year, but we got through it thanks in large part to the contributions of these three and all of our officers pulling as a team.”

O’Connor said Jacobs volunteered to become the department’s newest K-9 officer and partnered with Jeez, a Belgian malinois.

The pair have bonded and were instrumental in helping get drugs and illegal firearms off the streets.

“They’ve been performing at a high level,” the chief said.

Dixon, in addition to her borough detective duties, is a negotiator for the South Hills area’s Crisis Intervention Response Team.

“If you have someone barricaded in a house, or someone’s having a mental health crisis or a warrant suspect that won’t come out, she tries to negotiate them out,” O’Connor said. “We had a peaceful resolution to an incident.”

Grubich is on night patrol. He is credited with making numerous drunk driving arrests, assisting with other cases and serves as a mentor to others in the department.