The State College Police Department awarded five Officers with Medals of Valor for rescuing a woman from a burning home this past Spring. This fire burned through a house on Crabapple Court in State College last March. Five SCPD Officers entered into the embers to rescue a woman from the home.
On Wednesday, those Officers received Medals of Valor, and State College Mayor Ron Filippelli says it’s nice to see Officers recognized. Mayor Ron Filippelli saying: “A Ceremony like we’ve had today shows all the good work that Police do and that Police Departments provide for their communities.”
He says that Police don’t get the credit they deserve. Mayor Flilppelli adding: “Unfortunately, I think a lot of the good work that the Police do on a daily basis, risking their lives in some cases, does not get out to the public. It’s not recognized…it’s accepted, it’s assumed that the Police will act in that way, and it should be assumed that because they are Public Servants, but unfortunately, when something goes wrong, when there’s a mistake, when there’s a problem, that gets all of the attention.”
And that makes this recognition all that much sweeter for the Officers involved. Officer Dean Woodring of the SCPD saying: “It definitely feels good, especially in today’s climate for Police, it’s nice to be able to push something out that shows what we actually do on a regular basis, so it does feel good.”
Officer Woodring, one of the Five Officers to rush into the building that day, says he’s impressed by his fellow Officers. Woodring adding: “It is really cool to see, you know, the dedication that these, you know, Coworkers of mine have to go in there and to put our lives on the line not thinking about our loved ones at the time but thinking about that one specific individual that we don’t even know.”
He says the Award is nice, but it isn’t the biggest achievement in this case. Woodring adding: “Awards are awards, they are what they are. I think the biggest that we got out of it was knowing that, you know, our Officers came together as a family, which, you know, most of us here are. We’re a family, we came together, we had each other’s backs, we put our lives on the line. We worked together so that we could leave together, and we saved a life in doing so, and I think more than the award just knowing how close and how dedicated we are to each other in this job and to the community, was probably more rewarding than the actual award itself.”
