Police Honor Own in Awards Ceremony

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger honored more than 160 officers today at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for their valor, bravery, lifesaving efforts and calm under fire.

The large number of honorees is "indicative of the type of police service we have here in Montgomery County," Manger said.

Although none of the recipients had an opportunity to speak, their heroics were read out loud by their superiors.

Heroics like those of Police Officer 3 John Wilkes, .

Recordings of Wilkes' conversation with the hostage-taker are now used in National law enforcement training courses, Manger said.

"The Discovery building situation was the only case in the U.S. involving a suicide bomber who took hostages," Manger said to everyone involved in the incident. "A grateful county owes you a monumental thanks."

The hostage situation developed on Sept. 1 last year when James J. Lee of Wheaton walked into the Discovery Center year wearing a vest with silver canisters demanding the cable company change its programming.

Five hours later, when the tense standoff was over, Lee was dead, killed by the County SWAT Team, which was monitoring him through the building's internal television system.

Others were honored as well, like Lt. Thomas Jacocks, who has served with the County Police for 55 years.

Now the Deputy Commander of the Bethesda Station, he is the longest-serving police officer in County history and oversees evening patrol shifts, the CBD Unit, and the traffic section.

Manger joked that on the drive to the awards ceremony, Jacock probably made two traffic stops.

After receiving his award, Jacock whispered in Mangers ear that he didn't make any stops, but he did pull up next to one man who was speeding, looked over at him, and the man slowed down.

A lifesaving award was given to PO3 Brendon Johnston, who was one of the first responders to a call last October of .

A stroller had been hit, and Johnston arrived to find a 16-month-old baby with a severe head wound lying in the middle of Georgia Avenue.

The child had no pulse.

Only after five minutes of CPR was Johnston able to get a pulse. Fire and EMS arrived and took the baby to the Children's National Medical Center. After several days in the pediatric intensive care unit, doctors told Police that the baby was going to recover.

"What could have been a senseless tragedy turned into one of this department's proudest moments."