Grosse Pointe Shores honors officers who went beyond call of duty in 2023

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — Grosse Pointe Shores officials are proud of their Public Safety Department, but following the recent presentation of awards for going above and beyond the call of duty in 2023, they’re even prouder.

As the Grosse Pointe Shores City Council, residents and others looked on, Public Safety Director Kenneth Werenski distributed awards to several members of his department during a Feb. 20 council meeting.

“These are just a handful of the significant occurrences that happened in the Public Safety Department,” Werenski said.

Receiving the department’s top award — the 2023 Directors Award — was Zef Bojaj, who has been with the Shores for about 6 1/2 years and was promoted to sergeant last May.

“To earn this award, you do more than one thing,” Werenski said. “Over and over we kept giving (Bojaj) more responsibility … and he kept (taking it on).”

As a sergeant, Bojaj became the assistant instructor coordinator for the Shores’ emergency medical services program. Werenski said one of Bojaj’s “most significant contributions” was orchestrating the first in-house recertification training day, where the department’s paramedics recertified their state paramedic licenses. For the first time, they were able to do it in the Shores instead of having to go to an off-site location.

In addition, Werenski said Bojaj became the department administrator for the Taser program last year. He received advanced Taser training and is now a certified state Taser instructor; Werenski said Bojaj started a Taser training program for the department and certified fellow officers.

As a member of the Grosse Pointe Crisis Intervention Team, Werenski said Bojaj was requested three times through mutual aid to help someone experiencing a mental health crisis and played a vital part in resolving these situations peacefully.

Receiving a lifesaving award were Lt. Ron Coste and officers Paul Morang and Dan Kolar, who responded to a home on Colonial Road, where they found an unresponsive 86-year-old man in cardiac arrest. The 30 minutes of advanced life support they provided to the man before he was taken to a nearby hospital saved his life.

Officer Jeff Roybal was honored with a certificate of merit for two instances in which, as a member of the Grosse Pointe Crisis Intervention Team, he was able to help residents who were in the midst of mental health crises.

Werenski also recognized Lt. Tony Spina and Sgt. Jason Cook, who received the prestigious Valor Award in 2023 from the 100 Club of Detroit. While with the Special Response Team — similar to a SWAT team — the officers located an armed murder suspect in a home and used a distraction technique to end a standoff without exchanging gunfire.

“What an outstanding group of award recipients, just making Grosse Pointe Shores such a safe community,” Mayor Ted Kedzierski said. “We don’t have public safety (officers) — we have ambassadors. … We have the best department in the area.”

Other city leaders also praised the award recipients and the other members of the department.

“(That’s a) pretty awesome display of what you’ve got going on there, chief,” City Councilman John Seago told Werenski.

Kedzierski said Shores residents have a special relationship with the Public Safety Department.

“The police here are their friends,” Kedzierski said. “When people see that level of service, they don’t move out.”