Each year the City of Hallandale Beach Police Department honors the accomplishments of its workforce at an Employee Recognition Awards Ceremony. What follows are photos and brief descriptions of those who were recognized at the recent ceremony that honored outstanding performances for 2012.

The selections were based on the recommendations of a Awards Committee representative of all departmental employees and citizens of the City of Hallandale Beach.

Officer Michael Mellides

Officer Mellides earned this high honor December 4, 2011, when he observed the driver of a Gold Pontiac driving westbound in the 700 block of Foster Road, not wearing his seatbelt. After conducting a traffic stop, the odor of burnt cannabis was smelled emanating from inside of the vehicle. A search of the vehicle revealed a Glock 26 9mm handgun, under the front passenger seat well within reach of the occupant. A computer query revealed said handgun was wanted by the Miramar Police Department because it was stolen from a Miami Dade Police officer's residence.
It was learned that the occupant was possibly involved in a homicide which took place in Broward Sheriff's Office District 1 on December 2, 2011. It was also revealed that the occupant was a participant in the burglary of the Miami Dade Police officer's residence where the firearm was taken.
The firearm was turned over to the Broward Sheriff's Office for processing. The occupant was charged with Possession of a Stolen Firearm and Carrying a Concealed Weapon, and was eventually charged in connection with a burglary which took place in Hollywood.

CSA Joel Leon

Throughout the year CSA Leon has generated over sixty nine traffic citations, nineteen parking citations, One hundred forty traffic crash reports, and has processed over one hundred forty three crime scenes.
The dedication and services he provides to the city, aides and encourages others to maintain a certain level of pride and confidence not only for themselves but for their career.
After a year of working the desk, CSA Jefferson thought it would be difficult going back on the road to a shift that she was unfamiliar with. CSA Leon always showed support and assured her that if she ever needed any assistance he would be there to assist her. His dedication and willingness was especially noticed when he stayed over his regular hours just to help CSA Jefferson.

Sergeant Michael Scarpati

Sgt. Scarpati is dedicated to the safety and wellbeing of those he supervises. He is always aware of and readily reinforces officer safety concerns during roll call by regularly debriefing critical and routine incidents; showing videos and opening dialogue amongst the shift.
On scenes, he has shown a prudent willingness to utilize available resources to contain, control, and resolve incidents. This has been evidenced in several incidents ranging from burglaries in progress and vehicle pursuits to most notably, a murder which occurred in the North Eastern section of our city. His calm leadership and utilization of resources helped provide responding officers with the resources they needed to effectively conduct their investigation.
During an incident where officers believed a subject may have been stabbed during a domestic disturbance, the suspect fled northbound from the location between houses and a perimeter was immediately and effectively established, containing the suspect. Sgt. Scarpati showed restraint in investigating the facts at the scene before deploying K-9 and was able to determine that there had not been a stabbing, and elected to have officers attempt to locate the suspect without utilizing K-9. His clear thinking and mature restraint effectively avoided the potential for an unnecessary escalation of force that could have created a liability for the city and its officers.

Sgt. Scarpati has also worked to create a high level of camaraderie and unit cohesion by motivating his officers as a group and individually when necessary. He is attentive to his officers and shows concern for their wellbeing while still keeping productivity and the mission in the forefront.

Court Liaison Robbie Dennis

You consistently demonstrate a high degree of professionalism. You radiate confidence, are highly motivated, and strive for maximum effectiveness and high productive output. You are exceptionally reliable and trustworthy when given an assignment and are judicious in carrying out assignments. You are extremely active and eager to try new approaches. You have the quality of knowing what has to be done and requires minimum supervision. You are knowledgeable over a wide range of job responsibilities and clearly understand purposes, objectives, practices and procedures of the agency. You quickly grasp new routines and explanations. You display absolute loyalty to superiors and the Agency and continuously work to make the Agency a more ¬professional organization.

You were instrumental in the successful completion of paperwork and files in preparation for the annual FDLE audit. You diligently worked around the clock on this task, trained new Records personnel, and were a key member responsible for the destruction process. You accomplished all tasks while ensuring your daily duties as Court Liaison were met effectively and efficiently.

Officer Eric Bruce

On 6/30/12, Officer Bruce responded to an Armed Robbery at 7-11, 722 Atlantic Shores Blvd. While conducting this investigation, he watched the surveillance video which showed two subjects enter the store. One of the subjects engaged the clerk in conversation, while the second came around from the rear and pointed a firearm at the clerk and proceeded to rob the store of cash within the register as well as several scratch off lottery tickets, while the other subject stood by. On 7/1/12, Officer Bruce was at the Midway Food Store, 1050 N. Federal Hwy in reference to a call there. While investigating the call he entered the store and observed the subject that engaged the clerk in conversation at 7-11 inside. He immediately detained the subject. While placing the subject in handcuffs, he observed the handle of a black semi-auto handgun concealed within the waistband of the subject's pants. Officer Bruce also discovered an oxycodone pill and half of a suspected Xanax bar, as well as one of the stolen lottery cards in the subject's pocket. The lottery card’s serial number was confirmed as one of the ones that had been stolen the night before by the clerk at 7-11.

Crime Analyst Jackie Rivera

On 04/30/12, road patrol officers were dispatched to a call of a stolen vehicle. At the time they were unaware the person calling had an out of custody probable cause affidavit for robbery and battery. Jackie was actively listening to her radio and heard the name of the complainant and quickly recognized it was the suspect wanted for the robbery. She immediately notified Sergeant Cicatello and he in turn notified his police officers.

Due to her efforts, the officers were able to place this violent suspect into custody. Most importantly, her attentiveness assisted in the responding officer's safety.

Sergeant RaShana Donovan

Sgt. Donovan’s leadership skills were displayed during an incident where officers were dispatched to an armed burglary in progress. She immediately and without hesitation called out an inner and outer perimeter, ensured officers were in the proper location and began to gather pertinent information. Her persistence and investigative skills led to the seizure of two handguns, one of which was stolen and an AK 47 assault rifle. Also found were dozens of credit cards and identifications which did not belong to the suspect.

CSA Tanya Clarke

In 2012, Tanya was assigned to Road Patrol's Traffic Unit; she immediately began expanding her knowledge by attending training classes. She constantly goes above and beyond the scope of your written daily duties, to include handling traffic accidents, completing citations and assisting with traffic homicides, reviews traffic accidents for approval, trains personnel on the recently implemented TRACS system, and handles calls for service when Road Patrol CSAs are busy or absent.

Tanya is always there to help others. Her quick eye has assisted police officers with the correction of traffic citations given for vehicle accidents. In addition, she follows up with hit and run investigations; and meets with victims at headquarters about their cases.

Officer Thomas Montellanico

On 12-25-2011 you and other officers responded to 705 NE 3 ST where you encountered the victim of a stabbing that was spurting blood from a deep knife wound to the chest. You quickly began lifesaving measures by laying the victim on his back and applying direct pressure to the wound using only your gloved hand to reduce the flow of blood. You remained with the victim and were able to calm him down until Hallandale Fire Rescue could take over several minutes later.

The victim was rushed into surgery and was expected to survive. As evident by the amount of blood at the crime scene, the victim would likely have expired had you not taken swift action.

Your quick action potentially turned into a lifesaving event. I am proud to award you with a Life Saving Award for your intelligent and swift actions saving a man’s life.

Detective Christopher Grieco

Detective Grieco was assigned a fraud case which consisted of an elderly couple who had hired the services of E.A. Stevens Funeral Home to assist them with pre-need services. This is commonly done by elderly people to relieve family members of the burdensome financial responsibility of funeral services and other death arrangements. In this case, the services were not legally finalized and approximately $25,000 of their money remained unaccounted for.
His investigation revealed that the funeral home owner defrauded the victims out of approximately $25,000. The owner was taken into custody and charged with Grand Theft.

Ultimately, eight more victims came forward Det. Grieco was able to obtain additional evidence, sworn statements from mostly elderly victims and presented the additional cases to the State Attorney's Office. The State Attorney's Office accepted all the additional cases and a trial is pending. A total of over $50,000 was stolen from the victims. Mr. Stevens is facing over 30 years in prison when convicted and restitution for the victims will be pursued. E.A. Stevens Funeral Horne was also officially closed. In another case, of fraud allegations against Joseph Elalouf in regards to defrauding customers of J & E Auto Electric Vehicle Repair Shop of over $100,000. Elalouf was part owner of the business and routinely repaired vehicles at the location. Most of his victims were local and known customers who trusted him.

As a result of Det. Grieco’s investigation, it was determined that this was a calculated endeavor by Mr. Elalouf to defraud his trusted customers. Mr. Elalouf, eventually confessed to defrauding numerous persons of their money due to having a gambling problem. Elalouf was arrested and charged with numerous counts of Grand Theft.
Det. Grieco’s Investigation revealed eleven additional victims. Mr. Elalouf plead no contest and was sentenced to three years in prison followed by 10 years of probation along with a court judgment ordering restitution to the victims.

Due to his tenacity, thoroughness, compassion in assisting victims, eagerness to hold criminals accountable for their actions and dedication to getting the job done, over 20 victims were identified and assisted in these two cases. One suspect is in prison and the other is awaiting trial. Both businesses were closed after the investigation.

Investigative Services Division
Major Thomas Honan                  Captain Pedro Abut
Sergeant Edward Diaz                 Sergeant Alan Hatch
Detective Christopher Grieco        Detective Lane Sauls
Detective Wayne Taylor               Detective Jason Budnick
Detective Alfred Villanueva           Detective Donna Carlson
Detective Marc Dubuisson           Detective Eduard McGovern
Detective Wissem Mejdoub         Detective Marco McAdam
CSA Anthony Maniglia                Victim Advocate Jill Fogel
AOA Margarita Rey                     AOA Moncell Kemp
Id Tech Chris Redfern                  Id Tech Jose Rosales
Crime Analyst Jackie Rivera

The Investigative Services Division is charged with the responsibility of investigating criminal activity in the City of Hallandale Beach. Assigned personnel remain dedicated in serving the needs of our city and actively solicit the support of the community in our quest to keep this a great place to live and work.

In the early morning hours of March 16, 2012 a burglary occurred to an occupied residence during which an 82 year old elderly female was sexually assaulted. A plan was formulated to establish covert surveillance at the female's home located nearby where the suspect was later observed and placed under arrest.

On March 11, 2012 H.B.P.D. detectives with the assistance of FDLE culminated a child porn investigation involving a 26 year old male who resided in our city. A search warrant was served and the suspect was detained. Evidence collected on scene revealed over 250 images of child pornography and the suspect was placed under arrest. It should be noted this suspect was an illegal alien who resided directly across a park where kids congregate and play on a daily basis. The arrest of this dangerous suspect undoubtedly made our city a safer place for the kids of our community.

The aforementioned summary of facts is just a snap shot of teamwork, dedication, and above standards performance exhibited by ISD detectives. Because of their hard work dangerous criminals were arrested and removed from public life which undoubtedly makes our city a much safer place to live and work.



Neighborhood Enhancement Team:
Sgt. Brian Hubbert Officer Erik Camero,
Officer Galen Wilson Officer Megan Jones
Officer Michael Mellides

Aventura Crime Suppression Unit originally responded to a single family residence where an occupied burglary with a battery had been reported to have occurred with multiple assailants being involved. Through further, on scene, investigation it was determined that the three suspects involved in this case reside in the City of Hallandale Beach and were believed to be in possession of evidence from this burglary. The City of Hallandale Beach Neighborhood Enhancement Team was requested to assist in the investigation and subsequently assisted with identifying and rapidly locating the suspects and their respective family members.

The team efforts of these fine detectives who utilized a vast network of local contacts, personal information, and intelligence information held by the Hallandale Beach Police Department's Neighborhood Enhancement Team members, led to successfully locating the subjects within a short hour and a half time period. It also led to the recovery of stolen property and subsequent arrests of these violent offenders, one of which was on probation at the time of the alleged offense.

Congratulations to each and every member of the Neighborhood Enhancement Team for this fine performance! It is with great pride I applaud your work and present each of you with the Unit Citation Award for your sincere dedication to duty and exemplary service to the City of Hallandale Beach.

Is given to sworn or civilian personnel for each five years of continuous service and not receiving any disciplinary action more severe than a written reprimand.

Five Years:
Officer Eric Camero
Officer Josue Hernandez
CSA Melody Morgan
Officer Gerardo Novoa
Officer Raul Rivera

Ten Years:
Captain Michel Michel

Fifteen Years:
CSA Andrew Casper
Captain Paul Robert

Twenty Years:
PAL Coordinator Jonathan Carrillo