The Lieutenant Rochelle Sax, Police Officer of the Year Award

The Officer of the Year Award for 2007 is granted for outstanding achievement by an Officer that brings credit to the Department and which involves performance well above and beyond that which is required by an Officer's basic assignment.
The criteria includes, but is not limited to, attendance, productivity, letter(s) of merit, organizational commitment, sustained community involvement, judgment, decisiveness, sensitivity and leadership.
This year's Officer of the Year Award is presented to Officer Denise Murphy.

Officer Denise Murphy has been a UNLV Police Officer for only 4 years.  In that period of time she has truly distinguished herself and received the respect and admiration of her peers, supervisors, and the University community.  In addition to her patrol duties, Denise is tasked with several responsibilities and performs them all in an exemplary manner.  As the Department’s primary recruiting officer, Officer Murphy has worked and enhanced the background investigations and recruiting functions of our Department.  Her efforts have culminated in the successful hiring of 9 full-time police officers.  She also played a significant role in the hiring of a full-time police dispatcher and a full-time member of our administrative staff.  Of major significance and in keeping with our Department’s commitment to diversity 5 of the recently hired officers were minorities and women, and both of our department’s newly hired civilian personnel were minorities as well.  In fact the UNLV Police Department has more women on the police force now than at anytime in its history.

After working for the UNLV Human Resources Department for 13½ years, Denise was hired by the UNLV Police Department in February 2003. She quickly demonstrated that she was an exceptional Police Officer by earning the coveted Honor Recruit Award upon graduating the Police Academy.  She was the first UNLV Police Recruit to receive this honor.  In 2005, Officer Murphy was nominated and selected as the runner-up for the UNLV Classified Employee of the Year and was publicly recognized during the 2005 UNLV Classified Staff Awards Ceremony. Officer Murphy currently serves on the UNLV Honor Guard, the Public Safety Advisory Board, the Student Life Diversity Committee, and the UNLV Police Choir.

Obviously, Denise has mastered a variety of skills since becoming a UNLV Police Officer.  She is, without question, a highly effective team player who strives to continuously make the UNLV Police Department a model for university policing nationwide.  For her continued commitment and loyalty to the mission of the UNLV Police Department, Officer Denise Murphy is your 2007 Police Officer of the Year!