Our Top Cops, The Elite Eight, Bound For D.C.

By Jim Or

They will meet the president of the United States. 

They will receive one of this nation's highest law enforcement honors.

And never, ever, will eight Northeastern Montana officers forget why they were called to duty, what put them in position for the National Association of Police Organizations to bestow upon them the TOP COPS Award.

“It's prestigious. It's humbling,” says Glasgow Police Capt. Brien Gault, who nominated the Elite Eight for the award. “The one thing I want to get across is that our hearts are with the Fischer-Greenhagen family, and Scott and Suzanne Billingsley were the true heroes that day.”

Jan. 17, 2009, was the date when gunfire broke out at about 4:50 in the afternoon near the ambulance barn behind Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital. 

Melissa Greenhagen, an emergency medical technician and daughter of a retired Valley County detention officer, was walking to her vehicle in the parking lot when Roger Lynn Sellers shot and killed her. When Scott Billingsley and his wife Suzanne, a nurse, ran to help Greenhagen, they were shot and wounded. 

A gun battle followed between officers and the killer, who escaped south of the hospital and left a blood trail in the snow. Officers and police dogs tracked him down in darkness, killing him in a shootout about six hours later.

Gault says “the way it played out that night” – with more than 50 officers working together from “multiple disciplines”  of regional law enforcement – inspired him to nominate the Elite Eight. It's the only case during his 19 years on the Glasgow force that involved an active, sniper-style shooter. 

“You either rise or fall to your level of training, and they did that,” Gault says.

The officers expect to meet President Obama next Friday, May 14, at the White House and receive their awards at a ceremony that night at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., as part of National Police Week. John Walsh of TV's “America's Most Wanted” will emcee.

All eight officers plan on attending, leaving for Washington at various times next week.  

They are:

– Alexandra Burke, Montana Bureau of Land Management ranger.

– Tyler Edwards, Glasgow police officer.

– Peter Glowacki, Glasgow police officer.

– Brian Irwin, Wolf Point police lieutenant.

– Dan McKee, Roosevelt County sheriff's deputy (who was with Fort Peck Tribal Police at the time).

– William Soper, Valley County sheriff's deputy.

– Robert Weber, Glasgow police officer.

– Phillip Wright, Border Patrol officer.

The eight represent that largest group of officers involved in one of 10 cases receiving TOP COPS Awards. A committee of national law enforcement representatives choose one TOP COPS case from each U.S. state and territory. The cases are ranked, and officers in the top 10 cases are flown to Washington for the ceremony.

“It's very prestigious,” Gault says. “As far as I know, they're the first case from Montana that got the top award.”

Last year, Sgt. Derek Mahlum of Havre Police Department came close. He received national honorable mention.

Among this year's other national winners are Fort Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and Sgt. Mark Todd for their work responding to the mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. 

Each honored officer will receive a bronze statue with a cop likeness and replica of his or her badge. 

“It's an honor for all of them who are involved with this,” Gault says. “You know, they pick 10 cases across the United States for TOP COPS and for Glasgow, Mont., to get one of them, it's pretty amazing.”

Orrdinary People appears in The Glasgow Courier. Please suggest special people to Jim Orr at 406-228-9301 or publisher@glasgowcourier.com.