Stories of the inner workings of police operations and business practices was the dinner conversation at the annual Vocational Services awards hosted by the Rotary Club of Capalaba on November 16.
Emcee Bill York said it was an honour to recognise the achievement of those who had worked harder, better and gone beyond the needs of the job and attained the awards.
"We like to thank these people when we get the chance and to recognise their actions," Mr York said.
Deputy Mayor Julie Talty said she believed the awards embraced the purpose and ideals of Rotary, the police and the businesses.
"They both offer integrity, compassion, empathy, selflessness and personal strength and are awarded for hard work, ethics and pride in the job at hand," she said.
"The city offers the police thanks. Their good works happen daily across our city. And organisations such as Rotary make this a special place to live."
Winning the Stan Green award for sales and customer services was Sandi Zeller of the Redland Sporting Club with a highly commended given to Daniel Schmidt of Ed's PCs at Alexandra Hills. The Rotary Pride in the Workplace award for best practices was won by Lane Boland of TPK Bathrooms with highly commended awards given to Andrew Kempers of Redlands Mazda Service centre, Nicole Brose of Bayside Discount Trophies and Josh Kuskopf of Splashzone Media.
Police service awards were given to Senior constables Samantha Barker of Bayside CIB and Simon Killalea of the Capalaba tactical crime squad for outstanding action during drug Operation Romeo Togo.
This 15-month operation resulted in 24 arrests on 117 charges with drugs seized and stolen property and money reclaimed.
Officer of the Year was given to Senior Constable Brendon Winslow of the Bayside Crime Prevention Unit for his work with the COVID disaster team, held with major community stakeholders and described as epitomising what partnership was all about.
Sergeant Graham Pearse received the community policing award for his work as manager Redlands PCYC.
Two $1000 cheques were also presented to the PCYC and to Police Legacy.
Acting Chief Superintendent Andrew Pilotto said he was proud of all seven police nominees who helped make Queensland the safest State in the safest country in the world.
"Our officers work hard to stay ahead of the curve. We just can't sit back and let things drift. We always put our victims first and try to adapt to do things better," he said.