The board room of the Santa Barbara County Administration Building was standing room only Wednesday as friends and family gathered to honor 11 local law enforcement heroes who received special awards for their service this year.
The awards were named for H. Thomas Guerry, a former Santa Barbara police detective killed on duty in 1970 during an exchange of gunfire with two criminals planning to rob a downtown bar.
Roger Aceves, Goleta mayor and former police officer, welcomed the attendants, and said he lived in the city during the time that Guerry was shot, and even heard the gun go off.
Aceves was 15 at the time, and he wrote a letter to the editor for the local newspaper describing how learning of the death affected him.
“That was the start of me wanting to be a police officer,” he said, adding that the award was created to honor the heroes who keep our community safe.
This year, two men received the Guerry Award for Valor.
Senior Deputy Christopher Gotschall of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department was presented his award by Sheriff Bill Brown. Gotschall previously received a Guerry Award for Valor for his response to the 2006 post office shooting.
Last October, Gotschall responded to shots fired in a Goleta neighborhood off of Turnpike Road. He was the first on the scene, where he spotted a man exiting a vehicle with a semi-automatic weapon.
Gotschall shot the man, “neutralizing” him, Brown said, adding that the man had made statements earlier that he intended to confront residents in the home.
“Many innocent people could have died,” Brown said, calling Gotschall “one of my heroes.”
UCSB Police Officer Ryan Smith was also honored Wednesday and was presented the award by Chief Dustin Olson.
Olson recounted Smith’s leadership last November, when he was on patrol in Isla Vista near Acorn Park and observed several men assaulting another man.
While taking one man into custody, Smith heard gunshots from an adjacent street and ran toward the sound. He notified dispatch of the shots, and additional shots were heard across the Isla Vista community.
Smith worked to create a perimeter around the area where the shots were heard, and helped provide cover and scene containment as additional officers arrived. The shooter was eventually arrested.
“Even when recognizing the imminent danger to himself and the public,” Olson said, “he did not hesitate to rush forward and address the threat.”
Nine others were honored Wednesday with Guerry Awards for Superior Performance:
» Officer Isaac Clocherty of the California Highway Patrol
» Senior Deputy District Attorney Ann Bramsen of the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office
» Officer Douglas Klug of the Santa Barbara Police Department
» Officer Keld Hove of the Santa Barbara Police Department
» Sgt. Charles Strange of the Lompoc Police Department
» Lt. Bob Mott of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department
» Corp. Matt Sterns of the UCSB Police Department
» Senior Deputy Probation Officer Todd Malesich of the Santa Barbara County Probation Department
» Detective Michael Parker of the Santa Maria Police Department
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.