No one likes getting a ticket, and certainly no one likes to be arrested. Yet despite having an impressive number of both arrests and citations last year — amounting to 1,000 “citizen contacts” as they call it in the field — Gaithersburg Police Officer Shane Eastman received no complaints at all.
Coupled with the nominations of five of his supervisors, this feat sealed the deal for Eastman, as Chief Mark S. Sroka announced him as the department’s 2011 Officer of the Year.
“It feels great to be awarded something like that when I work with so many great officers,” Eastman said. “It makes you feel that what you’re doing actually counted and mattered and that people look at that as a benchmark.”
According to city data, Eastman made 61 driving under the influence arrests, 39 adult arrests and issued 631 citations. And on the less glamorous side of officer duties, he handled 610 calls and completed 143 written field reports.
But it take more than numbers to tell Eastman’s tale, Sroka said. In his five years with the department, Eastman has shown a dedication and a work ethic that has gained him much respect as an officer.
“He’s easygoing and very fair,” Sroka said. “He’s even-tempered and he always conducts himself in a professional manner.”
Eastman said he’s just doing what he loves. Back in high school, he would ride the midnight shift with his older brothers.
“I thought it was so fascinating,” he said. “You come in contact with all these interesting people, good and bad and you encounter so many different situations. I wouldn’t want to leave in the morning.”
Now he’s back on the same shift, no longer the tag-along, although his two older brothers do still work for the department.
The night work has caused him to take a keener interest in drunken driving. For the past two years he has served on the Holiday Task Force, a joint effort with the Montgomery County police to prevent people from driving under the influence.
“I’ve seen cars being flipped upside down and people taken to the hospital,” he said. “That’s something that kind of sticks with you.”
