Edmonds Police Officer Trevor Mitsui was named the Chief David N. Stern Memorial Officer of the Year during the Edmonds Police Department’s 23rd annual awards ceremony Wednesday — an event in which both police officers and members of the public are honored for their contributions to community safety.
Edmonds Police Chief Michelle Bennett began the event by explaining that May 12-18 is National Police Week, proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. “Each year we pause to recognize the 900,000-plus law enforcement officers serving across the United States,” Bennett said. “We remember the more than 23,000 law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice and have been killed in the line of duty since the first recorded death in 1786.”
Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen followed with his thanks to both the police officers for their efforts “in this noblest of professions” and the many family members in attendance for all they do to support what he described as “our guardians.”
“In most jobs you know there are very specific measurable skills and performance standards that you have to meet, but in my opinion I think an individual’s heart and their spirit and their empathy and their humility and their inner core values are what’s most important, and in this room, there’s a lot of that,” Rosen said.
The event emcee was again Cmdr. Shane Hawley, who started the awards portion of the evening with the Citizen Service Citations. These awards are given to those “whose assistance to the police department was given without regard to personal welfare, or which had a positive bearing on the outcome of an incident and contributed to the furtherance of law enforcement in the community.”
Dina Graham and Dawn Moore were described as ““the dynamic dog duo” for their efforts to help find “Chance,” a Blue Heeler mix who escaped from a Highway 99 motel room when officers were serving a search warrant. “Despite our patrol units best efforts, Chance was able to stay on the run” — and was lost for 10 days, Hawley said. Graham and Moore coordinated putting up lost dog signs in the area with a photo of Chance, and they even set up a live trap to see about catching him. While they were in the process of setting up a second trap, Chance appeared near the WinCo grocery store parking lot, where they were able “to corral him and hold him until his owner could come get him,” Hawley said.
Maya Couch was honored for her efforts in June 2023 to assist her grandmother Sharon when she accidentally slammed her hand in the trunk of her car and could not it out. “Because of the way the trunk had closed on her hand, the trunk could not be opened with the key,” Hawley said. Maya — age 11 at the time of the incident — got her grandmother a chair to sit in and started gathering tools to try to open the trunk. When that didn’t work, she called 911 for help, and police and fire personnel were able to free her grandmother. “As you can imagine, her hand was hurt pretty bad, but thanks to Maya calling 911 and getting help there quickly, it may have saved Sharon’s hand from more permanent injury,” Hawley said, adding that the police officer at the scene commented on how calm Maya was. “Apparently she also wants to be a police officer, so we are proud to present her with the Citizen Service Citation and a way too early job application,” Hawley quipped.
Tara Mitts and Kevin Johnson were out for a walk near the dog park at Marina Beach when they heard someone crying. “Instead of just ignoring it and continuing on, they decided to find the person and check on them,” Hawley said. “The crying led them to the railroad tracks, where they discovered a woman laying across the tracks, waiting for the next train to take her life. They immediately went to her and were able to convince her to remove herself from the tracks and sit down with them. They also called 911.
When Edmonds patrol units arrived, Tara was comforting the woman and getting her family’s phone numbers. The woman was eventually taken to the hospital for additional help.
“Because they were willing to investigate, they literally saved the life of a total stranger,” Hawley said.
Next came a combined recognition that included citizen service citations and letters of commendation. The latter are awarded to department employees, or officers from other law enforcement agencies, who perform particularly noteworthy acts.
The first commendation letter went to Clarence Aseka, Meaghan Carroll, Seattle Police Officer Jayde Wiitanen and Edmonds Officer Josh Hwang
Hawley recounted that on the night of April 19, 2023, a brutal stabbing took place in the WinCo parking lot, leaving one man dead and the suspect on the run in the victim’s car. “An incident like this takes everyone you have. It also takes help from others,” Hawley said. “While there were many officers that responded and citizens that helped out, these four were the linch pins that led to the suspect’s arrest.”
Clarence Aseka was working as a loss prevention officer for WinCo. “He quickly got us video of the incident from the parking lot, which included vehicle information for the missing vehicle,” Hawley said. Edmonds officer Josh Hwang, meanwhile, was able to identify the suspect, “which gave us a chance to broadcast that information to surrounding agencies, as well as put it out to the local news media in hopes that someone would see him,” Hawley added.
That’s exactly what happened the next morning when Meaghan Carroll was near Seattle’s Volunteer Park. “She had seen the news reports and recognized the suspect when she saw him on foot in the area. She called 911 to tell Seattle PD exactly where the suspect was,” Hawley said. Seattle Officer Wiitanen “was the first to arrive on scene and found the suspect. When the suspect ran off, Officer Wiitanen chased him down and cornered him That’s when the suspect pulled out the same knife he had used to kill the victim and stabbed himself in the neck. That landed him in custody and the hospital for well over a week.
“Thanks to these four in particular, a violent murder suspect was taken into custody less than 10 hours later,” Hawley added.
Clarence Aseka and Meaghan Carrol were awarded Citizen Service Citations while Officers Jayde Wiitanen and Josh Hwang received Letters of Commendation.
Det. Julie Govantes, who was unable to attend the ceremony, received a commendation letter for her work conducting background investigations during the police hiring process. “There is no way we would have hired the quality candidates we did in 2023 without the efforts of Det. Govantes,” Hawley said.
Cpl. Brittany Harris and Officer Alex Arvan were dispatched to a call April 2 in which the only information was that a woman was screaming and unable to answer questions. After arriving, the apartment manager pointed to an unresponsive 2-year-old who “was foaming at the mouth and his breathing was labored,” Hawley explained. “Officer Arvan and Cpl. Harris sprung into action. They began live-saving first aid on the toddler until medic units arrived. That’s when Officer Arvan sprinted the child over to the medics. As soon as he did, the child began crying.” The toddler recovered after being taken to the hospital, and Harris and Arvan received commendation letters for their efforts.
Officer Brianna Trimble was working with the department’s graveyard patrol crew the night of Feb. 7, 2023 when they responded to a kidnapping call that involved a 3-year old child. The child’s father had taken the child, was volatile and would not work with the shift supervisor who was trying to talk to him, Hawley said. Officer Trimble is a trained crisis negotiator and over the course of the next two hours engaged the father in dialogue. Not only was she able to convince the father to return the child, “she was able to convince him to return to the original location of the crime, where he was arrested,” Hawley said. Officer Trimble was presented with a commendation letter for her work.
Officer Erick Martinez and Officer Hui Xing responded to a call involving a man who had accidentally cut himself with a box cutter, showing up while aid units were still on the way. The man “had severed his entire thumb and it was hanging by a thread,” and had lost a lot of blood, Hawley said. “These officers got to work immediately. Using a combat application tourniquet, “they were able to stop the bleeding, stabilize his blood pressure and have him ready for transport when aid arrived,” Hawley said. Both officers received commendation letters for their efforts.
Sgt. Jason Robinson is also a crisis negotiator, and has worked for several years with the North Sound Metro SWAT Team. “He got to put his skills to the test on Dec. 1 when the SWAT team was called out for subject wanted for multiple felonies, presumed to be armed and in the midst of a mental health crisis,” Hawley explained, adding that the suspect “had been firing a gun off in his neighborhood and pointing weapons at random strangers. Robinson spent over three hours on the phone with the suspect and eventually persuaded him to come outside and surrender “without an issue” after offering him a Chick-fil-A sandwich. Before the suspect was taken to jail, Robinson followed though with his promise and bought him a Chick-fil-A, Hawley added. Robinson received not only a commendation letter but a Chick-Fil-A gift card “to reimburse his work-related expense.”
Officer Josh Hwang received a Meritorious Service Citation, awarded to an employee for a laudable or extraordinary act, or outstanding community service.
Hwang was the human member of the K9 team that also included K9 Ace. Ace spent five years tracking down suspects all over Snohomish County, Hawley said. Ace and Hwang were also the first of the department’s K9 teams in over 20 years to cross train for narcotics detection as well as tracking. “K9 is a dangerous job for the handler and the dog,” Hawley said. “What we ask them to do is nothing short of extrodinary on a daily basis. It is also physically taxing on the health of the dog and most of them end up retiring for medical reasons. K9 Ace is no exception and unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer in 2023. He passed away peacefully with his handler and best friend, Officer Hwang, by his side. Their time as a team was special and their contribution to the safety of our community will not be forgotten.” Hwang and Ace were awarded the meritorious service citation “tor their exceptional work from 2018 through 2023.”
A 17-year-veteran of the Edmonds Police Department, Det. Stacie Trykar for the last 10 years “has had one of, if not the most difficult jobs in the entire department,” Hawley said: working on sexual assault cases, many of them committed against children. “Not only does she deal with the victims in these cases, but she also bears the burden of dealing with the trauma for the entire family,” Hawley said. The department received a letter in 2023 from a civil attorney who complimented Trykar on her handling of a recent case. “I can only hope that the Edmonds Police Department recognizes how lucky it is to have someone with the tenacity, professionalism and insight exhibited by Detective Stacie Trykar,” the attorney said. “She deserves the department’s highest commendation and gratitude of all child victims.” Because of her hard work and dedication to victims of sexual assault over the past 10 years, Trykar received a Meritorious Service Citation.
Executive Assistant Elizabeth McArthur was selected as the Non-Commissioned Employee of the Year. This employee is nominated by fellow department employees and is reflective of the recipient’s significant achievement and dedication. McArthur supports the department’s command staff, handling accounts payable, various tracking systems and payroll. “Elizabeth is always looking for ways to help and support her co-workers,” Hawley said. “She has an upbeat, positive attitude which is contagious to those around her.”
The Officer of the Year, Trevor Mitsui, was nominated by fellow department employees and then selected by previous recipients of the award. The award “is reflective of the recipient’s significant achievements and dedication,” Hawley said.
Mitsui stands out, “not for a big flashy call, but because of what he does every single day,” Hawley said. “If you ask anyone to describe Officer Mitsui, they will always lead with the following two words: team player.”
For the last few years, the department has been short staffed on patrol. “Officer Mitsui has almost single-handedly taken care of those shifts by himself,” Hawley said, noting that in 2023 he took a total of five days off. “If there was a shift that needed to get filled, Officer Mitsui filled it, no questions asked. He ended up working an additional 40-plus days for the year.”
In addition to his everyday work ethic, Mitsui also serves as a field training officer. “He has quickly become a very effective trainer and had several successful students rotate through his car,” Hawley said. “Just in case he wasn’t busy enough, he also volunteered to become a less-lethal weapons instructor in his spare time.”
The department’s Officer of the Year Award was renamed in 2008 as the Chief David N. Stern Memorial Officer of the Year Award to reflect the level of professional service that Stern — who died unexpectedly on April 25, 2007 — provided to the Edmonds Police Department. Stern was also a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonds, and Rotary Club President Brian Albright was on hand to congratulate Mitsui.
At the end of the ceremony, bugler Chris Edwards played Taps, followed by a moment of silence in honor of fallen law enforcement officers.
— Story and photos by Teresa Wippel
Congratulations to all for a job well done! The citizens of Edmonds thank you for your dedication to lawfulness , safety and humanity.
Congratulations and thank you to all