PFPD and American Legion honor award winners

PFPD and American Legion honor award winners

POST FALLS — For more than two decades, the American Legion Post 143 has worked with the Post Falls Police Department to award officers who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Four times a year, PFPD employees vote for an officer, employee, and volunteer of the quarter. Of the 12 finalists, three winners are chosen and honored at an annual awards banquet.

While the regular festivities were canceled due to COVID-19, the PFPD and American Legion recognized their outstanding officers in a small celebration Wednesday afternoon.

• Officer of the Year Detective, Neil Uhrig

• Employee of the Year Code, Enforcement Administrator Michael Allen

• Volunteer of the Year, Jacque Panza

Uhrig started his career with PFPD as a volunteer reserve officer in 2006 and accepted a full-time position with the department that summer. Since 2015 Uhrig has served as a detective specializing in investigating child sex crimes, child exploitation, and cybercrimes. Recently, Uhrig held an officer position for the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force in Seattle.

“It’s voted on by our staff so it’s pretty cool that our staff recognized the work I do and it’s quite an honor to be recognized that way,” Uhrig said.

It’s the positive internal relationships and connection with the community that has kept Uhrig with PFPD for 14 years. He hopes PFPD continues to employ good people in law enforcement.

“I think the media and the political climate make it seem like there are a lot of bad apples in law enforcement and honestly I haven’t seen that,” Uhrig said. “It’s really important that we recruit and hire the right people, train them well and that the ending result is a quality police department like Post Falls.”

Allen started working for the PFPD in 2016 after spending 15 years in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps and four years as a security officer on a naval submarine. With a family history of civil service, Allen knew from a young age that he wanted to continue that legacy. As a community services and code enforcement officer, Allen works closely with members of the community to enforce city and state codes, help with patrol, detectives, community projects, and everything in between.

“The community, they support us unconditionally and I really appreciate that,” Allen said. “It is imperative to have good people in law enforcement today, it’s a job where you don’t get to make mistakes and you shouldn’t make mistakes.”

After the death of Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore in 2015, volunteer of the year Jacque Panza felt a strong desire to support local law enforcement. After spending most of her life in hospice nursing and disaster response ministry, Panza became a volunteer chaplin for the PFPD in 2016.

“We have so many incredible volunteers, for them to give me this award it just means the world to me. It’s very humbling,” Panza said. “These guys are so incredible. They give and deal with so much and they do it with such class. They’re just incredible, I stand with them, I would stand with them no matter what.”