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Drake named Officer of Year

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Shelter Island’s Police Officer of the Year Chris Drake, left, with Chief James Read at the annual Kiwanis Club police awards dinner on Friday.

Responding to a call about a man with a knife, a Shelter Island Town police officer found clues that solved 40 burglaries on the Island last year. That, in turn, led Officer Christopher Drake to be named Shelter Island Town Police Officer of the Year at Friday’s annual East End Police Awards Ceremony.

The Kiwanis Club of Southampton has sponsored the event for 42 years. The individual departments pick their own winners. Friday’s event was held at Vineyard Caterers in Aquebogue.

Officer Drake responded to a domestic violence case last summer in which a man was threatening his family and himself with a knife, according to Chief James Read. While making an arrest in the case, Officer Drake noticed a lot of GPS units, cell phones and ferry tickets in the house.

There had been a rash of car break-ins on the Island in late April and early May of 2011 with GPS units, cameras, cell phones and money stolen from cars. There were about 37 such incidents, the chief said. Tucker A. Ruiz faced multiple charges in the case, which was referred to the Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead.

Officer Drake’s observation inside the house ended up solving 40 other cases, most of those thefts from cars, Chief Read said.

He added that Officer Drake also has led the department in driving while intoxicated arrests and regular arrests over the past few years.