Officer of the Year 2009
Officer Blake McBride
During 2009 Officer Blake McBride worked as a Neighborhood Police Officer in the Downtown Business District. He developed relationships with business owners, residents, service organizations, and government agencies to identify problems and solutions for the downtown area.
Officer McBride’s responsibilities encompassed traditional law enforcement functions and non-traditional problem solving strategies. On the traditional side, Officer McBride organized surveillance details in response to a rash of burglaries and a rash of GPS thefts from vehicles. After patrol officers developed a suspect in the burglaries, Officer McBride conducted follow-up investigations and filed three burglary charges. Officer McBride observed videotape of the theft suspect and later recognized and apprehended the suspect. He turned the suspect over to detectives, who then cleared many thefts from vehicle cases throughout the City. During the year Officer McBride issued 103 parking tickets, 66 traffic citations, 15 non-traffic citations, made 9 felony and misdemeanor arrests, served 20 warrants, issued 59 faulty equipment cards and answered 665 emergency calls while working the downtown district.
Officer McBride leveraged his relationships with downtown stakeholders to help solve other problems. York Rail replaced an aging crossing gate that frequently malfunctioned and disrupted traffic. The York County Sheriff’s prison work detail cleared trash and graffiti from the College Ave Bridge and along the rail trail corridor. Coty Council passed and ordinance to address cars stopping in the cross walks as a result of Officer McBride’s efforts and the Crime Response Unit assisted with security for the Revolution Opening Day, First Friday, and Strand Capital events. Officer McBride also sits on two Downtown Inc. committees, which focus on safety and security related issues and most recently began serving the business community with his training in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
Officer Blake McBride is being awarded the York City Police Department’s 2009 Police Officer of the Year as a result of his willingness to step outside the traditional boundaries of law enforcement and combine traditional and non-traditional efforts in order to solve problems and increase safety within the Downtown Business District. He is given this award in accordance with General Order 08-001-04 IV D "Recognition of Achievement".
