Two officers from the 7th Police District have won the district’s Officer of the Month award for the second month in a row. Officers John Conway and Barbara Tiano received their awards during the monthly meeting of the 7th Police District Advisory Council on Dec. 18.
Conway’s and Tiano’s quick response to a police radio report of a burglary in progress allowed police to capture a man fleeing the scene of a home break-in. The crime occurred on Nov. 4 at about 12:30 p.m. on the 500 block of Burgess St. in Somerton. As Conway and Tiano approached the scene, they saw two men running between houses away from the site of the break-in. Tiano chased one of the suspects and saw him crawl under a fence into a field.
Conway and Tiano reported descriptions of the two suspects via police radio. As other officers arrived in the area, they found one of the alleged burglars hiding in a mound of weeds in the field where Tiano had chased him.
When police inspected the targeted house, they found that an intruder had cut open a screen in a rear door and opened the door.
Police commanders have placed a high priority on investigating residential burglaries in the 7th district due to their frequency in relation to other types of crimes. At public meetings, officers have said that the most effective way to capture burglars is to catch them in the act, which is what Conway and Tiano did.
The arrest occurred just 12 days after Conway and Tiano were the first officers to arrive at a shooting in Rhawnhurst, provided first aid to a wounded man and arrested the suspected shooter in possession of a rifle. ••
