Bellevue City Mayor Charlie Cleves opened the city’s February meeting by asking the city attorney to read a recent letter to the city praising the work of officer Trevor Bonar.
A Cincinnati police detective wrote that Bonar had contributed to a recent drug trafficking case. As a resident of Bellevue, the detective said he was proud to hear from Campbell County Prosecutor Kyle Burns that Bonar’s thorough preparation and excellent handling of the case had helped lead it to a successful outcome.
It was a fitting opening to bring up Chief Jon McClain for a special announcement. He named Bonar as Bellevue’s first Officer of the Year.
“I chose officer Bonar for this award,” the chief said. “Anytime I ask him to take care of something, he takes care of it. I don’t have to tell him how to do it, or what I want, I just tell him to take care of it, and he does.”
He added that officer Bonar is always prepared and willing to pitch in, whether that’s training his fellow officers or even making last-minute repairs on trailers for the city with his dad, he comes through.
“I couldn’t ask for a better officer than Trevor Bonar, and he is well-deserved of our first Officer of the Year Award for 2023,” McClain said.
He then presented the award to applause from Bonar’s colleagues and family.
Outstanding Community Partners
McClain also announced another new award to honor community members who have supported his department and officers.
“And so when I was figuring out these awards, another thing I wanted to do…was a community partnership award because we get a lot of involvement and help from our community,” he said.
He selected two employees of the Bellevue Kroger store to receive the Outstanding Community Partners Award — Michael Peacock, former Bellevue store manager, and Regina Lorenzo Hernandez, head of the store’s Customer Promise Team.
“Whenever we do our drive for school supplies for Bellevue Schools, they’re the ones that help us out,” McClain said. “When we do our food drive to get donations for Thanksgiving meals that Officer Brown heads up they’re there for us…You see them at our Touch a Truck events and other events where they have free refreshments. They do a lot to help us out with what we want to accomplish within the community.”
With that, he invited Hernandez up to receive the award.
The mayor and council congratulated Officer Bonar and the community award recipients.