93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
About 400 people packed the Capital Bluffs venue Wednesday evening to see a medal of honor presented to a Jefferson City police officer, along with meritorious service awards for 17 JCPD employees and 911 operators.
Jefferson City Police Chief Eric Wilde thanks for the community for its sponsorship and attendance at the Jefferson City Police Foundation’s second annual awards banquet.
“And we had over 31 corporate sponsors this year from the community of Jefferson City. And I think that just speaks tons to the support that the police department and law enforcement in general have in this town and we’re just very lucky to be here and have that kind of support from our community,” Chief Wilde tells 939 the Eagle.
The chief is thankful for the community’s support.
“To the community, everybody in Jefferson City, not just the ones that are here tonight, thank you for the support. We’ve got a great community, we get a lot of community support from this area, so thank you. That’s what makes our job worth it, that’s what makes our job so rewarding, is whenever we can know that people have our back here,” says Wilde.
JCPD officer Matthew Savallisch earned the medal of honor for a November 2022 incident involving a suicidal person on Madison street. Motel employee Travis Black was also presented with a certificate of appreciation for intervening in a police incident in December and grabbing the suspect from behind as she charged to within feet of an officer.
12 Jefferson City police officers, a lieutenant, a sergeant and three 911 operators have earned the meritorious service award from the Jefferson City Police Foundation for their work in the past year. We’ll talk more in-detail about some of the other awards in the coming days on 939 the Eagle.
