CORRECTIONS
National Medal of Honor Foundation
recognizes top corrections officers
This past October in Oklahoma City, the National
Medal of Honor Foundation honored six of the top
staff in corrections in 2018. A selection committee
comprised of officers from Connecticut, New York
and New Jersey reviewed dozens of nominations
from across the country. The 2018 honorees are as
follows:
Gold Medal of Honor: Correctional Officer II An-
thony Rodarte, Arizona
Silver Medal of Honor: Correctional Officer I Jus-
BRIAN
tin Tuxward, Delaware
DAWE
Bronze Medal of Honor: Correctional Police Offi-
cer Joshua Ruiz, New Jersey
Posthumous Medal of Honor: Lieutenant Steven Floyd,
Delaware
Supervisor of the Year: Assistant Warden James Scarbor-
ough, Delaware
Staff Medal of Honor: Classification Specialist Jeff Wells,
Kansas
The National Medal of Honor Foundation is a nonprofit pub-
lic charity. All members of the foundation are volunteers, and all
funding for this event came through sponsorships from orga-
nizations like the New Jersey State PBA and several PBA locals.
Also supporting this year’s event were the Teamsters, AFSCME,
the United Mine Workers, National Corrections Employees
Union, CWA FODCOP, SEIU, Alaska Corrections Officers As-
sociation, Oklahoma Public Employees Association, ACOIN,
FOP-DC, Alleghany County Corrections, and too many Locals
to name here — thank you all.
To raise funds, the foundation also held a “Football Extrav-
aganza” raffle. The top prize was a four-day, three-night trip
for two to this year’s Superbowl in Atlanta, valued at more than
$18,000. An officer from Alaska won the main prize. There were
five prizes in all, with two of the other four winners coming from
Massachusetts and one each from Connecticut and Pennsyl-
vania. Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets to the raffle.
More than half of the funds raised for the event came from the
raffle. In addition, ACOIN donated our Hero Series books to the
foundation to sell, with all profits going to the Medal of Honor
Foundation. We do what we can to help raise the perception of
our profession.
By all accounts, the event was a huge success. The keynote
speaker was Tier Talk host, former New Jersey CO and current
NJ DOC administrator Anthony Gangi. In his capacity as Tier
Talk host, Tony held numerous interviews with officers from
around the nation who attended the event in OKC. In addition,
the Michigan Corrections Organization One Voice Initiative
conducted several meetings and discussions with rank-and-file
officers on the challenges we face and how we intend to address
them going forward. There are some fascinating insights in
these interviews, with some great ideas on how to address our
current challenges. Check them out on Tier Talk on YouTube.
22
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ DECEMBER 2018
State Corrections Local 105 member Joshua Ruiz earned the National Med-
al of Honor Foundation’s 2018 Bronze Medal of Honor.
For next year’s event, we are considering Nashville, New Orle-
ans, Orlando and Phoenix, with the selection to be made in ear-
ly December based on cost and availability. Nominations will be
accepted beginning Feb. 1, 2019. Watch for a nomination form
in these pages after the first of the year.
The reorganization of the Medal of Honor as a nonprofit pub-
lic charity, led by volunteers with years of experience in admin-
istering these events, will raise participation and awareness na-
tionwide. By bringing together the Medal of Honor Awards with
the One Voice Initiative at the same venue, we shine a spotlight
on the incredible heroism that our brothers and sisters show
each year, and we provide an avenue for staff to seek answers
and develop strategies to address the challenges that our profes-
sion faces. Join us next fall at the 2019 National Medal of Honor
Awards ceremony and the One Voice Initiative conference, and
thanks again to all of you who supported this great event.
Brian Dawe spent 16 years as a state correctional officer in Mas-
sachusetts, beginning May 31, 1982. He is a co-founder of the
Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, administra-
tor for the Corrections and Criminal Justice Coalition and execu-
tive director for Corrections USA and the American Correctional
Officer. He is the originator and owner of the American Correc-
tional Officer Intelligence Network.