Law Enforcement Recognition Night
In 1992, each police department in the County of San Diego, the Sheriff’s Department, the Harbor Police, and the Highway Patrol were first invited to nominate a candidate for the title of the Scottish Rite’s Officer of the Year. The annual event has grown to include the police departments of the San Diego Unified School District as well as several college district departments. A committee of Scottish Rite members with law enforcement backgrounds selects our Officer of Year from that pool of candidates based on outstanding accomplishments in the performance of duties during the past year. This July event is one of our most popular because it attracts the attendance of civic officials and leading members of the community in addition to those honored and their superiors.
The last Law Enforcement Recognition Night was in 2019, before the pandemic began.
This year we are fortunate to return to our annual event.
The nominees for 2022 are:
Carlsbad Police Department - Det. Corporal Tyler Mazzocco
California Highway Patrol - Officer Levon Lanius
Chula Vista Police Dept - Lieutenant Ernie Pinedo
Coronado Police Dept - Officer Danny Aguirre
Escondido Police Dept - Officer Kristina Adame
La Mesa Police Dept - Detective Julie Jensen
National City Police Dept - Sergeant Mark Segal
Oceanside Police Dept - Officer Luke Rubish
San Diego Community College Police Dept - Officer Eric Groeger
San Diego District Attorney's Office - DAI Stan Schwarz
San Diego Harbor Police Dept - Corporal Matthew Oakley
San Diego Police Dept - Det. Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Escalante
San Diego Probation Dept - Officer Michael Wiener
San Diego Sheriff's Dept - Deputy Jonathon Young
Southwestern College Police Dept - Officer David Felix
And the winner is.... Sergeant Mark Segal from the National City Police Department
Sergeant Segal is a 24-year veteran of Law Enforcement. He has been a National City Police Officer for 19 years.
On July 31, 1974, the night clerk at a 7-Eleven store was brutally stabbed to death. Despite a thorough investigation no suspect was identified or arrested. While the case was intermittently worked, no new information was found and for almost 50 years the case went unsolved.
In January 2020 Sergeant Segal began working this cold case. Using DNA evidence, he identified a suspect who was subsequently arrested and is now awaiting trial. Sergeant Segal’s tenacity in investigating this cold case has brought a murder suspect to justice and brought peace of mind to the victim’s family.