The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Auxiliary police officers promoted
A trio of Lorain Police Auxiliary officers were promoted in an Aug. 22 ceremony at Lorain City Hall.
Lorain Police Capt. Roger Watkins said Don Killinger was promoted to captain, Steve Hernandez was promoted to lieutenant and Tom Hunter was promoted to sergeant in a ceremony featuring Lorain Safety Service Director Dan Given.
“Those are all really great guys,” Watkins said. “They’re really deserving. They really put in a lot of their own time into the city. We were all glad to see them promoted.”
The goal of the volunteer police auxiliary is to supplement the department in certain capacities such as providing security at city parks and swimming pools, at local school sporting events and providing traffic control following crashes.
Sometimes, the officers even get a chance to catch criminals as in the case of Auxiliary Officer Lt. Noel Santiago. According to police, Santiago was working security Aug. 22 at City Hall when he allegedly caught 34-yearold Jose Collazo attempting to bring suspected fentanyl and a syringe into the building while attempting to attend a hearing in Lorain Municipal Court.
In 2018, the Lorain Police Auxiliary put in 24,870 hours of work, or the equivalent of 13 full time employees. Of those hours, 16,820 were volunteer hours, according to city officials.
Santiago was the top worker last year with 1,276 hours worked which is almost double that of the second highest officer, Killinger, who had 676 hours worked.
“All of these guys really just put forth a lot of their personal time just to help out the organization and to help out the city that they live in,” Watkins said.