Page 30 - FOP June 2019 Magazine

Chicago Police Lieutenant Jacob Alderden (left), begins the acceptance speeches for being named Top Cops along with Officers Bernardo Quijano and Elvis Turcinovic.
Coming out on ‘Top’
Chicago Police Officers earn national recognition for Mercy Hospital shooting response
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
■ PHOTOS BY ED CARATTINI JR.
At the end of the Top Cops Awards on May 12 in Washing- ton, D.C., law enforcement from across the country lined up to have pictures taken with officers from the Chicago Police De- partment. Three Chicago Police Officers were honored among the 10 best responses in the country during the past year for their bravery in the Mercy Hospital shooting that took the life of Brother Samuel Jimenez.
From Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Texas and New York, they wanted to give Chicago a pat on the back, not just for this response but for the Department’s heroics throughout the tu- multuous past year. Indeed, when Lieutenant Jacob Alderden and Officers Bernardo Quijano and Elvis Turcinovic stepped up to the stage in the grand ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel to receive Top Cop awards for their fearlessness in shut- ting down that active-shooter upheaval, shouts of “Thank you” echoed from the hundreds in attendance and the last of four thundering ovations greeted them.
More than a dozen Chicago Police SWAT officers and nearly
30 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2019