12.21.20 MEETING MINUTES - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council Monday, December 21, 2020 Page 5 some of the streets and in the tunnels and in October we had a couple of vehicle break-ins. In both incidents, the suspects were caught and arrested by our patrol division so I was real proud of that. Again, it's been a tough year for law enforcement, but I do want to take a minute to thank Council, the Village Administration and our entire community for their overwhelming outpouring of support. Over the past several months, we have received so many well wishes and expressions of support. It's going to take me months just to keep up with all of the thank you cards I have to send. So we are very grateful for all of the support we have gotten from the community. One of the things I have been enjoying since I took over as Chief is getting letters from people outside of the community that we serve. Sometimes people take a minute to call, or say nice job or show their appreciation. I got a letter a few months ago and I think it's a great story for the holiday season. It's a great example of the kind of officers we have in this department. I want read an excerpt of this letter from a young lady. She wrote: "My husband and I are from out of state and last night we got lost trying to get to a hotel. One of your officers stopped us and not only did he let us follow him to the hotel, but he had someone call the hotel first and was kind enough to help us get a good deal on a room for the night. It was without a doubt the kindest encounter we have ever had with law enforcement. We were travelling with our 4 -month-old on an 18 -hour drive to see family when the officer stopped us. Our little one was tired of being in the truck and we were extremely tired ourselves. He could have checked out our names and sent us on our way looking for a hotel, but he didn't. He talked to us like normal people instead of doing what most officers have done to us in the past and immediately treated us like we were criminals. He was very nice and he took the time to help us." She writes, "Writing this is something I have never done before and honestly never thought I would actually do, but where some people might consider what the officer did for us nice, but not a big deal, it was for me and my husband. Thank you again. It's nice to know there's still good police officers out there." Again, I thought that was nice story to share for the holiday season. With that, I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Council President Schutt stated, thank you Chief. Mayor Bodnar stated, Steve, if I may pipe in. Chief Matias, I just wanted to say that I am so proud of you and the work that our Police Department has done. I couldn't be more pleased. I want to congratulate you on the recent certification with the Ohio Collaborative. Also saying that I read the memo that you included in Council packets. I wanted to say that I agree with everything you put in it. Under your leadership, the Mayfield Village Police Department is doing better than I could have ever hoped. You have my support. You have my admiration. You have my respect and you have my gratitude. So, I want to thank you for all of the work you do. I also want to thank the members of Council who have supported the Police Department. Thank you. Chief Matias stated, thank you Mayor.