During a speech recognizing her accomplishments, as well as the encouragement of colleagues and family, Gurnee Crime Prevention Detective Shawn Gaylor accepted the honor of being named the village’s Police Officer of the Year award at Gurnee’s board meeting Monday.
Evidence custodian Dennis Meserve was also recognized as Police Civilian of the Year for 2019 at the meeting.
Although it is 2021, Gaylor and Meserve were recognized for their work in 2019. The department held off on celebrating them at a Village Council meeting last year because of the pandemic, and Police Chief Brian Smith said officials wanted to wait so they could receive proper recognition.
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In addition to being recognized at the board meeting, the winners of the two honors are traditionally featured in the Gurnee Days parade and recognized at the Exchange Club of Gurnee’s prayer breakfast, Smith said.
“Unfortunately all of those were canceled [last year],” he said during the meeting. “We pushed this off because we hoped we’d have more of an opportunity to have a crowd.”
Meserve retired as a lieutenant in the Libertyville Police Department in 2016, and joined Gurnee’s department as an evidence custodian in 2019. Smith said that Meserve, “immediately began to revamp the way we manage the evidence process,” adding that he changed the way that the department categorized its cases.
During his work as an evidence custodian, he also found “an amount of cash” that the Gurnee Police Department was unaware of, according to Smith, and was ultimately able to return the missing money to the residents to whom it belonged.
“We’re thankful that he came aboard,” Smith said.
Gaylor works as the department’s crime prevention detective, a position that was created in 2019.
Smith said one of Gaylor’s largest responsibilities when she first took over the role was navigating the legalization of cannabis in the state, and how that would impact local ordinances.
“She had to very quickly get in tune and caught up with changes that the state of Illinois was going through,” Smith said during the meeting.
In addition to helping transition the village when cannabis was legalized, Gaylor, a seven-year veteran of the department, has been involved with Shop With a Cop, serving on the village’s communication staff, the department’s Explore program and participating in other charity events, according to Smith. She also took over as the department’s public information officer in 2019.
“When I wanted to change careers a couple of years ago, I wanted a career that was going to leave a positive impact in the community,” Gaylor said. “Shortly after becoming a Gurnee police officer, I knew I had made the right decision. I love my job here, I love the opportunities that have been given to me here. It’s been a wonderful experience for me.”
In addition to recognizing the two police officers during the meeting, the board also approved a retirement, as the police department recommended retiring its K-9 Bear, who has been with the department for seven years. During the meeting, Bear’s ownership was transferred to Officer Dan Ruth, who is resigning from the department and moving out of state.
Rather than finding a new home for the dog, Bear is being retired and will live as a family pet with Ruth.
“Dan and Bear have been together since day one when Bear came onboard,” Village Administrator Patrick Muetz said. “Dan really is his caretaker and owner.”