Virginia State Police Captain Selected for Top SEARCH Honor

Captain Thomas Turner

Captain Thomas Turner, Division Commander of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Virginia State Police, was selected by the SEARCH Board of Directors for one of this organization's top honors - the Gary R. Cooper Meritorious Service Award.

This annual award honors a SEARCH Member whose work in the field of criminal justice information systems, policy, or statistics has been outstanding. Through this award, the SEARCH Membership recognizes one of its colleagues both to the field and to the success of SEARCH.

The Board selected Captain Turner for this award to recognize his outstanding leadership in promoting effective information sharing with the justice community.

"Tom has been a strong and steady contributor to the development of national policies and programs that support the use of criminal justice information in the furtherance of public safety," noted SEARCH Executive Director Ronald P. Hawley.

Captain Turner has been a governor-appointed Member of SEARCH since 2000 and in that time has served in various leadership capacities, including as the current Vice Chair of the SEARCH Membership Group and Board of Directors. Outside of SEARCH, he is currently serving as 2nd Vice Chair of the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board and as a member of the NEC AFIS User Group.

Captain Turner was presented with the 2009 Cooper Award at a dinner in his honor on April 14, 2009, in conjunction with SEARCH's Spring Membership Group Meeting and the first of its 40th anniversary celebraiton events. For more details on Captain Turner's award, and a list of previous recipients, see our Awards page.