WASHINGTON – Naval Support Activity Annapolis Chief of Police David Ennis has been selected to receive the J. Stannard Baker Award for Highway Safety. The award will be presented in October during an award ceremony in Chicago.
The award, sponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Northwestern University Center for Public Safety, and OnStar, recognizes individual law enforcement officers and others who have accomplished significant lifetime achievements in highway safety and also those individual law enforcement officers and others who have made significant contributions, or outstanding achievements in highway safety over the course of their career.
Ennis, a native of Annapolis, Md. and retired Anne Arundel County Police officer said he is not seeking awards but is honored to have been selected.
“I am humbled and honored, the person who notified me is a lifelong friend; the chief of the Roanoke County Police,” said Ennis. “I certainly didn’t get into police work to win awards but this highway safety award is the culmination of all my 28 plus years in civilian law enforcement.”
Ennis’ recognition is not by chance as he is a 33 year law enforcement veteran who has continuously developed, implemented, and promoted a variety of traffic safety and enforcement programs within Maryland and throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. He remains the only recognized traffic safety specialist III in Maryland law enforcement.
He also served as the state director for BikeSafe Maryland and recently was the keynote speaker at the NHTSA Distracted Driving Awareness national press conference.
“Coming from the county, the current chief of police and I grew up together, so working in special operations, working with those guys I have a great relationship with them, which has helped this agency,” said Ennis. “I have a great relationship with the city of Annapolis chief of police and we have worked in a lot of community events which I think provides great benefits to the Naval Academy and NSA Annapolis."
Ennis explained that these relations are maintained with the work on the field and the bilateral interactions between the civilian and military police forces.
“We talk a lot, I am a member of the Maryland Chief of Police Association, I am also a member of the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, these professional organizations help maintain that relationship,” said Ennis. “Down in D.C. it’s called the Police Executive Research Forum, I’ve been in law enforcement for a total of 33 years, my connections and relationships with these organizations benefit and help this agency (NSA Annapolis).”
He was a visionary on the highway safety field, developing innovative high-visibility operational initiatives and campaigns to reduce crashes, injuries and deaths during the DELMARVA Bike Week. Ennis also assisted in the development of topics at the 2014 Maryland Highway Safety Summit and the 2013 Maryland Older Driver Symposium.
“I find that doing your job properly, correctly satisfies me and that’s the most important thing,” said Ellis.
He also explained that his passion and dedication for his field of work started when he lost a dear friend on a drunk driver crash.
“Traffic isn’t viewed as a craft of law enforcement, there’s a stigma that writing parking tickets and being in traffic enforcement has no value to the citizens; well in fact it does if it’s done properly,” said Ennis. “I’m not a person that goes out and write tickets just to write tickets. I write tickets in areas that have high crash rates.”
The award is named to honor J. Stannard Baker, a former physics professor at Northwestern University who made significant contributions to highway safety. A pioneer in accident reconstruction investigation, he developed this subject into a science by applying the laws of physics and developing mathematical equations to assist law enforcement officers in their investigations. The first books on accident reconstruction investigation were written by J. Stannard Baker and are still in use today.
“The ultimate goal that I find is that I go to work, I put my uniform on, I think I’ve done the best job I can, and if that is solving an homicide or determining the cause of a crash cause the family member always wants to know why their loved one dies,” said Ennis. “Solving that puzzle I always found it rewarding, personally, so at the end of the day I get to look in the mirror and say, hey I did the best I could. If I get accolades than that’s just a positive, but I do this for myself, my community and my officers.”
For more information about the J. Stannard Baker Award for Highway Safety visit http://www.sheriffs.org/content/j-stannard-baker-award-highway-safety
For more news about Naval District Washington and NSA Annapolis visit http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw.html
Date Taken: | 06.30.2015 |
Date Posted: | 06.30.2015 16:48 |
Story ID: | 168672 |
Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
Hometown: | ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, US |
Web Views: | 676 |
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