Last night, Associate Chief John Sardino, received the Law Enforcement Commendation Award from the Central New York Chiefs of Police Association.
Below you will find the nomination that was submitted which lead to Associate Chief Sardino receiving this award:
Associate Chief John Sardino has a record of superior operational management of the patrol, investigations, crime prevention, and special event functions of Syracuse University’s law enforcement unit with the Department of Public Safety. Moreover, he has demonstrated notable skill and made exemplary contributions to managing law enforcement, safety and security crises. In the past year, John has effectively managed student assemblies and protests, both on campus an off, providing safe spaces for voices to be heard. He was often the commanding officer overseeing special events at the Carrier Dome. He led behind-the-scenes efforts to effectively communicate with DPS union leaders and support resolution of the most recent labor contract. John’s leadership and long-standing relationship with the command team at the Syracuse Police Department continues to be a mutually beneficial law enforcement partnership that is a model for university law enforcement and local police around the country. Within the DPS, John’s skills and respect within the department continue to expand his leadership roles.
In a recent crisis, John coordinated law enforcement efforts to manage effectively a threat case on behalf of the University. He exceeded expectations in coordinating University efforts with various local and federal law enforcement agencies. He also served as a central point of contact for university stakeholders who had direct relationships with the potential threat actor succeeding in both effectively gathering critical information and managing the anxiety of potential targets. At the beginning of this academic year, during the initial challenges of a campus mumps outbreak, John almost single-handedly located and made face to face contact with the 100 remaining students who needed to provide vaccination records to campus health services over the first weekend of the outbreak. Perhaps one of his most significant contributions to resolving a safety crisis was when he managed the 2014 response, supervision and mitigation of an 18-day sit-in in the University’s main administrative building. He invested nearly sixteen hours per day in managing the deployment of plain clothed officers, negotiating directly with protesters, maintaining safety for them, limiting the spread of the protest, and ensuring continued operation of the building for administrative functions and classes.
In his role as Associate Chief, John has never sought recognition nor asked for any additional compensation for his many extra hours of leadership and service. His 30 plus years of dedicated law enforcement service to the students, faculty, staff and visitors of Syracuse University is both distinguished and appreciated.
Congratulations to Associate Chief Sardino for this much deserved award.