Rexburg Police honor officers during special ceremony
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REXBURG — For the second year in a row, the Rexburg Police Department honored Joshua Rhodes as its officer of the year during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
“Josh just exemplifies what a Rexburg officer should be,” Rexburg Police Cheif Shane Turman said during the event.
Turman says the award isn’t chosen by him, but other officers and staff members in the police department. Turman sent out a ten question evaluation and calculated the score from categories. Questions included, “Which officer exemplifies the law enforcement code of ethics for the police department?” and “Which officer has the best ability to work with people?”
“At the end of the day… the coworkers are voting on that, and I think it’s important that it’s the person that they feel,” Turman says.
Turman says Rhodes, who’s been with the department over eight years, is safety oriented, good with people, compassionate, hardworking and a man of integrity.
“He is top notch,” Turman says, adding that many others were also nominated for the award. “What it showed to me was that we just have a lot of excellent officers and they’re really respected by their fellow co-workers.”
Rhodes was given a $1,000 check from the Idaho Central Credit Union Rexburg branch. Other employees were also honored including Lt. Sheila Rhodes (no relation to Joshua) as Civilian Support Staff Employee of the year. She received $500 from ICCU.
ICCU Rexburg branch manager Darin Herzoff says he was excited to show support and thanks to those that serve the community daily.
“They’re always right there when we need them. Their response time, their desire to help, their ability to help – it’s always a very positive experience working with every single one of them,” Herzoff says.
Officers John Bone and Sam Jaeckel were presented with the “Life-Saving Service Bar” award for their heroic efforts on Christmas.
Officers were dispatched to a Rexburg home for a report of a 43-year-old man in medical distress.
“Officer Bone described him as having grayish skin tone and they could not see his chest rising,” Turman says.
Both officers performed CPR, switching off until an ambulance arrived at the home.
“I believe these officers actions saved (the man’s) life on this Christmas day and kept a husband with his wife and family hopefully for many more Christmases to come,” Turman says.
Turman presented Officer Gordon Maybee, a 31-year veteran, with a POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) Master Peace Officer certificate and Officer John Bone with a POST Intermediate certification.
“Those things take years to earn and training hours combined to get those,” Turman says.
He says officers aren’t required to seek that certification, but many in the department are striving to better themselves.
“(We want) to continue to keep getting better educated, better trained, and to stay up with the needs of this community and protecting their rights,” Turman says.