SPRINGDALE (KFSM) -- The Springdale Police Department honored several officers at an awards presentation Friday (July 13).
Many of the officers were recognized for dangerous situations they`ve been in this year, including Patrolman Michael Sparkman.
He was one of the officers who responded to a hazmat situation at Northwest Medical Center back in March of 2018.
“We went in, we got to the fifth floor and immediately after we got to the fifth floor the alarm started going off for the immediately dangerous to live levels of gases in the area,” Sparkman said.
The gas turned out to be a carbon monoxide leak coming from a boiler.
Sparkman remained humble about the award.
“These are situations that my coworkers and I do literally everyday every shift. Where it is nice to be recognized, I can think of 10 other situations that the guys and girls I work with should have been recognized and were more deserving to be recognized than I am,” he said.
K-9 officer Bosco was also recognized because he is retiring after more than three years on the job due to health reasons.
Patrolman Edgar Hernandez said Bosco was great with kids in the school, but also great at being aggressive.
“I was really really grateful and really lucky that his barks are really loud and intimidating, so there were many times where all I did was say hey there is a dog that is about to come in and told him to bark a little bit and within seconds you can hear who were looking for say I`ll come out,” he said.
The department said since Bosco is retiring they are looking to find another K-9 officer to take his spot.
Several officers were honored for serving 10 and 20 years with the department.
This was the first time the deparmtent hosted a mid-year awards ceremony, but it plans on doing two a year from now on.