At a special ceremony this morning in front of the Indiana Borough Building, several members of the police department were honored for their good work in several incidents, and for their community outreach efforts.
Sergeant Jeffrey Hoag, patrolmen first class Randy Allmendinger and Joshua Henning, and patrolmen Michael Clawson and Andrew Koszarek were honored by the United States Attorney’s office in Pittsburgh for their work in several incidents where they used intelligence gathered and de-escalated various situations without resorting to the use of violence.
US Attorney Cindy Chung said that while police are authorized to use violence in certain situations, it’s also important when to use other techniques.
Chung also honored Sgt. Jeffrey Hoag and his partner, K-9 officer Axel for their community outreach effort through the Comfort K-9 program which has been around for one year now.
Chief Justin Schawl said he had nothing but pride for all the officers work.
Henning, Allmendinger and Clawson were honored for a series of incidents on February 10th through the 15th of last year, where they interacted with someone believed to be mentally unstable. On the 15th, a 302 warrant to get her to an emergency room for evaluation, but the situation turned hostile. They were able to maintain a positive dialogue until she surrendered without incident or violence.
Another incident was in April of 2022, when Hoad, Clawson and Koszarek were brought in to handle an incident at an area school where a girl was in possession of a makeshift weapon and was acting in a threatening manner. The three used information from a similar case involving the girl in another county, and were able to again deescalate without the use of force.
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