(11/1) Thurmont Police Officer William
Murray was named Thurmont’s first Police
Officer of the Year on Oct. 27.
“It takes a special kind of person to put
on a police uniform and place themselves
between you and me and a dangerous situation,”
Thurmont Lions Club President Paul Cannada
said.
He quoted from a Thurmont Dispatch column
by Chief Greg Eyler that 70 percent of police
deaths are community officers.
“That is a mind-boggling statistic,”
Cannada said.
Besides Murray, officers Mark Debord and
Daniel Fitzgerald were also nominated by their
supervisors for the award.
“I am proud that all three of these men are
working for me,” Eyler said. “All three of
them deserve the award.”
Eyler said that on the day he graduated
from the police academy that he was told by
former police chief Herman Shook that his
working life would lived in a fish bowl and
that he was entering a thankless job so Eyler
was happy to see the officers receiving the
recognition they deserve.
“It’s a great honor, especially to be
nominated with these two men,” Murray said
after receiving the award.
