Ramsey June 8, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 The Ramsey Police Department is proud to announce that Patrolman Timothy Shoemaker has been chosen as the National DARE Officer of the Year. Shoemaker was chosen from a pool of thousands of DARE officers throughout the United States. He will be presented this prestigious award at the National DARE Conference in Memphis, Tennessee in July. DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is specialized curriculum taught to grade school students with the goal of building self esteem, and teaching them to say no to drugs and violence. “It is with great pleasure that I have Shoemaker named National DARE Officer of the Year the opportunity to advise you that Officer Timothy Shoemaker of the Ramsey Police Department has been selected the 2011 DRE Officer of the Year,” CARE President and CEO Charlie J. Parsons wrote in a letter to Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Gurney. “Each year the DARE America Awards Selection Committee is faced with a daunting task of selecting only one person to honor from those nominated. This year, the decision was not as difficult as previous years, as Officer Shoemaker clearly distinguished himself from a field of deserving candidates.” Parsons also told Chief Gurney that Shoemaker is apparently a valuable asset to the borough and to the police department. “The Ramsey Police Department is extremely proud of Tim’s accomplishments,” Chief Gurney said. “He is a oneman audio and video production team. “Tim’s energy and tireless efforts to keep kids off of drugs and to resist violence cannot be questioned. Tim has taken our already good DARE program to a new level. Two years ago, Tim was named New Jersey DARE Officer of the Year. At the time, I thought it couldn’t get much better than that. Now he is named National DARE Officer of the Year. With the amount of (continued on page 10) Patrolman Timothy Shoemaker