Springs officer recognized as one of America’s Top Cops
Winning the Medal of Valor for bravery is usually the high point of a police officer’s career.
Not for Ryan Jacobsen.
The eight-year veteran of the Colorado Springs Police Department is in Washington, D.C., where he’ll be receiving the thanks Friday of the president of the United States for his heroism in confronting an armed burglar last year.
Jacobsen will be one of 10 law enforcement officers getting a national Top Cop Award from the National Association of Police Organizations. President Barack Obama will speak at the ceremony at the Warner Theater.
Jacobsen, 31, is being honored for single-handedly killing an armed burglar and arresting his accomplice while investigating a break-in at a Briargate home last May.
The winner are selected by a committee of top law enforcement officers from hundreds of nominees.
“I thought, ‘Are they sure they sent this to the right person?’” Jacobsen recalled thinking when he received the letter notifying him of the award. “It is pretty incredible to be honored nationally. I was just doing my job, I didn’t expect any of this.”
On May 17, 2009, Jacobsen responded to a burglary in progress at the home of Mark and Robin Sherwood in the 8200 block of Candon Drive.
The Sherwoods had reported that their car had just been broken into while they were having lunch at a restaurant. Their garage door opener and car registration were missing.
When Jacobsen arrived at the Sherwoods’ house, he saw the garage door was open and he called for backup. Entering the home, Jacobsen confronted two burglars, one of whom was holding a gun and began to raise it. Jacobsen fired one shot, killing Paul Kovacevic, 29.
He then chased down and subdued the other burglar with a stun gun, asking a neighbor to hold the man down until backup arrived while he went back into the house.
“For me, it is like, you know when you become a police officer that you might have to be involved in something like that,” Jacobsen said Thursday in a phone interview from Washington. “You know that is part of the job and that can happen. You don’t want it to, but it can.”
Jacobsen received the Medal of Valor last September at the annual Colorado Springs Police Department awards banquet.
While several of Jacobsen’s family members are with him in Washington for the ceremony, his wife just had their second child and couldn’t accompany him.
The award ceremony is being held during National Police Week. Thursday night, Jacobsen planned to attend a candlelight vigil for fallen officers at a memorial where the names of Colorado Springs police officers Jared Jensen and Ken Jordan are etched.
Friday morning, Jacobsen will attend a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, where he will meet the president.
President Barack Obama, center, with Attorney General Eric Holder, far right pose for a group photo following a ceremony honoring the Top Cops award winners in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Photo by STF
President Barack Obama, with Attorney General Eric Holder standing second from right, pose for a photo during a ceremony honoring the 2010 National Association of Police Organizations award winners in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Frid Photo by STF
Officer Ryan Jacobsen Photo by Gazette File Photo