LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Police Department has won a national Transportation Security Administration partnership award, KPD Chief Darryl Perry said. Sharlene Mata, U.S. federal security director for the TSA on Kaua‘i, nominated KPD for the award, “and we were selected
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Police Department has won a national Transportation Security Administration partnership award, KPD Chief Darryl Perry said.
Sharlene Mata, U.S. federal security director for the TSA on Kaua‘i, nominated KPD for the award, “and we were selected as a national winner,” Perry said at the October meeting of the Kaua‘i County Police Commission in the council chambers of the Historic County Building.
In her congratulatory letter informing Perry that KPD won the 2009 National TSA Honorary Award Program’s Partnership Award, Mata writes that KPD “has been able to provide world-class law enforcement services to the TSA, airport tenants, the traveling public and Kaua‘i’s communities” in the face of “the huge void in law-enforcement and security services at Lihu‘e Airport.
“The KPD has demonstrated their commitment to building partnerships and networking with federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies by taking an active, participating role in responses, trainings and exercises conducted by TSA which ultimately enhances and builds a stronger foundation for Lihu‘e Airport’s security,” wrote Mata.
The TSA Lihu‘e office is funding travel for two to the TSA National Honorary Awards Ceremony. The award presentation is set for Nov. 19 in Crystal City, Va., near Washington, D.C., where the home offices of TSA are located.
Perry won’t attend the presentation, opting instead to send Deputy Chief Mark Begley and Acting Assistant Chief Alejandre Quibilan.
Perry will be on his first vacation as a county employee after over two years as the top cop, and he and his wife will be somewhere else on the Mainland on the date of the awards fete.
“Had (it) been another week, I certainly would have gone,” Perry said.
•Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
