{"id":23926,"date":"2025-01-22T01:14:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T08:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-police-department-recognizes-exemplary-acts-in-first-annual-award-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:45:13","slug":"cortez-police-department-recognizes-exemplary-acts-in-first-annual-award-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-police-department-recognizes-exemplary-acts-in-first-annual-award-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Police Department recognizes \u2018exemplary\u2019 acts in first annual award ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"From
From left to right: Detective Shane Fletcher, officer Karla Ross, officer Koltan Guttridge, Sgt. Vance Carver and Cpl. James Proctor of the Colorado State Patrol receive the Meritorious Service Award on Jan. 16 at the Cortez City Council chambers. (Torrey Palmer Photography\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Community members, officers, family and friends gathered in the Cortez City Council chambers Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Cortez Police Department\u2019s first annual award ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to have an awards presentation to honor some of you who have done extraordinary work under more than difficult situations,\u201d said Interim Chief of Police Andy Brock during the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Brock told The Journal<\/em> that the event had \u201cbeen in the works for a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just been waiting on the actual awards to arrive,\u201d he said. \u201cIt turns out, in the past couple of years, we have had several serious events that merited the awards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-one people were recognized that night, and their family members and friends were invited to pin the awards on them.<\/p>\n

To be awarded, they were first nominated by a peer or community member. An awards committee and Brock then chose who to award. And though most recognized were from the Cortez Police Department, some were from other offices and departments.<\/p>\n

\"Interim
Interim Police Chief Andy Brock (left), Lt. Rogelio Maynard (middle) and Lt. Angelo Martinez took turns reading off awards to 21 people at the Cortez Police Department\u2019s first annual awards ceremony. (Torrey Palmer Photography\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The first award presented was the Chief\u2019s Certificate of Commendation.<\/p>\n

Lt. Rogelio Maynard explained that it\u2019s an award the chief gives to people in the department or even community members for \u201can outstanding act of achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five members of the Cortez Police Department received that award:<\/p>\n

Communications Supervisor Lori Johnson.<\/div>\n
Lead Dispatcher Steve Bogott.<\/div>\n
Dispatcher Aimee Raygoza.<\/div>\n
Dispatcher Jay Dollar.<\/div>\n
Patrol Administrative Assistant Marissa Hurst.<\/div>\n

Brock said that on Nov. 29, 2023. when Sgt. Michael Moran was shot and dispatch received the call of an officer down, those five responded immediately and collaborated \u201cseamlessly\u201d with other dispatchers to ensure a coordinated and effective response.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir actions exemplify the professionalism, dedication and teamwork that are vital to the success of the emergency operations,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n

Next, Lt. Angelo Martinez presented the Meritorious Service Award, for \u201ca member whose conduct brings significant credit to them and achieves significant accomplishment for the betterment of the office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Five people \u2013 four from Cortez and one state patrolman \u2013 were given this award:<\/p>\n

Detective Shane Fletcher.<\/div>\n
Officer Koltan Guttridge.<\/div>\n
Officer Karla Ross.<\/div>\n
Sgt. Vance Carver.<\/div>\n
Cpl. James Proctor of the Colorado State Patrol.<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is for their exemplary dedication to professionalism following the tragic, line-of-duty death of Sgt. Michael Moran Nov. 29, 2023,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n

The five awardees maintained \u201cexceptional situational awareness\u201d and composure under immense pressure, which was \u201ccritical in ensuring no officers or bystanders were injured,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n

Maynard went on to present the Life Saving Award to Detective Kristin Cannon for her \u201cremarkable composure\u201d in an escalating situation when confronted with a gunshot victim and multiple hostile subjects in September 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring all that, she had wherewithal to apply lifesaving measures to an injured female that most likely resulted in saving her life,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Cannon was also awarded the Meritorious Service Award.<\/p>\n

The Meritorious Conduct Medal came next and was given to three members \u2013 Officer Trevor Robertson, Sgt. Kurtiss Baumgartner and Lt. Angelo Martinez \u2013 \u201cwhose conduct or performance is brave, exemplary or where a significant risk of injury to the member exists,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n

In July 2023, they responded to a call and was able to neutralize a suspect who repeatedly aimed their firearm at them, but didn\u2019t use deadly force.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could\u2019ve been a lot worse for them, the person, the community,\u201d said Brock. \u201cThey did an outstanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Police Medal of Valor came next and was awarded to three individuals who performed an act \u201cwith significant risk to their life with a demonstration of courage that goes beyond what\u2019s normally expected,\u201d Maynard explained.<\/p>\n

A Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Stephon Lobato, Sgt. Koby Guttridge and Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office Sgt. Alexander Kennedy received medals of valor for their actions the day Moran was shot.<\/p>\n

Those three located and confronted the fleeing suspect \u201cwithout hesitation\u201d and \u201cdisplayed remarkable courage,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Dispatcher Jenny Bashore and Colorado State Patrol Trooper Steven King were awarded the Meritorious Conduct Pin and Medal next, for showing \u201cextraordinary bravery\u201d when Moran was shot.<\/p>\n

Brock said Bashore was \u201cabout a 1-day-old dispatcher\u201d in the passenger seat of Moran\u2019s squad car when he was shot, and immediately picked up the police radio and called for help.<\/p>\n

King gave Moran CPR and started securing the scene when he arrived, which is standard practice for a police officer, but \u201camazing he could actually do it\u201d in light of everything going on, Brock said.<\/p>\n

Officer Jerry Sam and Lt. Rogelio Maynard were the last two to be awarded that night, and they each got a Meritorious Service Award.<\/p>\n

In July 2023, they responded to a shots fired call, and were \u201cconfronted with a volatile and hazardous scenario,\u201d and displayed courage and skill in that situation, Brock said.<\/p>\n

Brock thanked everyone who was \u201cin a terrible situation but performed outstandingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also like to acknowledge that while not everyone here was nominated for an award, in those tragic events I saw \u2026 family members, spouses and retired members lifting and supporting each other,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged the fire department, EMS, hospital staff, the Community Intervention Program \u2013 essentially everyone who works together to \u201cdo the best they can\u201d when responding to emergencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

people were recognized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78325,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions\/78325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23926"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}