MPD debuts quarterly award for officers

Daniel Rauch, a patrol officer on the swing shift for the Maricopa Police Department, is the department’s first recipient of a quarterly award.

Rauch, 30, joined MPD three years ago after serving time as a detention officer for Maricopa County.

He did not expect the award primarily because he was the officer that suggested the morale-boosting “employee of the quarter” to his superiors. The award acknowledges job performance for the last quarter of 2014.

“The recognition is really an honor,” Rauch said. “I just want to go out and do the best I can for the citizens here.”

He received the award in front of several fellow officers and his fiancée Chantal on Wednesday. Rauch is a resident of Gilbert.

“He’s kind of a gadget man,” Chief Steve Stahl said. He noted that among Rauch’s contributions to the department, he was in the pilot program for the on-body cameras to help the department form policy.

Rauch said he had expressed an interest in the cameras as a means of documenting evidence and community interactions.

Rauch also participated on the DUI Task Force.