GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Police Department has named their Police Officer of the Year and Civilian Employee of the Year for 2015.
Officer Kelli Braate, who works on the Family Services Team and Children’s Assessment Center investigating child sexual assault cases, has been named Officer of the Year. Braate was hired by GRPD in 1998 and worked shift patrol on the west side. She joined the Detective Unit before moving to the Family Services Team. She is also just the third woman to win the Officer of the Year Award since it was started in Grand Rapids in 1996.
The Civilian Employee of the Year is Martin Dredge. Dredge has been an Emergency Communications Operator since 2007 and has moved up to dispatching for both GRPD and Grand Rapids Fire and also trains new hires as the Communications Training Officer.
The awards are formally presented next week at the department’s Annual Awards Dinner at the Amway Grand Hotel, Pantlind Ballroom.
