The Anti-Defamation League of Missouri, Eastern Kansas and Southern Illinois will honor two law enforcement representatives and the departments they work for with the ADL’s 2017 Distinguished Service Awards. ADL will present the awards during a breakfast event from 8 to 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 8at the Third Degree Glass Factory, 5200 Delmar Blvd. in St. Louis. 

ADL will recognize Capt. David Hall, director of the Missouri Information Analysis Center, and Sergeant Bill Roche, director of the St. Louis Regional Fusion Center–Terrorism Early Warning Group, and their departments.  ADL’s Distinguished Service Award recognizes regional law enforcement representatives who work in the investigation and/or prosecution of hate crime, bias incidents, domestic or international terrorism, or the protection of civil rights. 

This year’s awards highlight regional teamwork in counter-terrorism efforts. According to the ADL, the agencies being recognized “have been instrumental in the collection, processing, and dissemination of critical intelligence information for law enforcement and civic partners.” 

The event will “highlight what good teamwork and intelligence sharing does both in apprehension and prevention of criminal activity, and thank the departments for their partnership with ADL in challenging hate/bias crime and counter-terrorism efforts,” said Karen Aroesty, director of the regional ADL office. 

“Often recognition is given to the end users of this intelligence information when crime is successfully averted, but the process of gathering and sharing is not often able to be tangibly reported.” 

At the Dec. 8 event, guest speaker Oren Segal, director of ADL’s Center on Extremism, will discuss  “Securing Justice:  Fighting Extremism and Hate in the ‘New Normal.’ ”  For more information and tickets (free for law enforcement professionals; $50 for the general public) to the event, visit http://bit.ly/ADL-Service-Awards2017.