Hamburg Borough Police Officer Tito Loor received the Honorable Service Award from the Fraternal Order of Police Berks Lodge #71 on Dec. 14, for his actions and courage to take an armed felon into custody during an active burglary.
“I think he was courageous. He was alone confronting an armed felon and he was able to put himself in harms way in an effort to capture somebody who was committing a felony,” said Hamburg Borough Police Chief Pedro Rivera. “The training that we’re providing them is working, making sure that their demeanor and confidence in what they do and can do is first and foremost. It shows he has tolerance, that although the individual was armed and coming at him… he showed restraint and had command presence and ordered the subject to disarm himself. It shows that this department has that sense of responsibility to all, even the actor… It shows that we’re professional and proficient in what we do.”
Loor has been an officer at Hamburg Borough Police Department for the past couple of years. He normally works the midnight shift. Rivera said Loor had conducted several investigations of burglaries at Cougle’s Recycling in Hamburg this summer.
“Officer Loor was in close proximity to Cougle’s when he received information that the subject had entered forcibly into Cougle’s and was in the process of removing and stealing copper items,” said Rivera.
Loor requested assistance and proceeded to Cougle’s. Upon arrival, Loor observed that a garage door was partially open on one of the buildings, and the lights were on. As he approached, Loor saw the subject in the process of trying to get out. The subject saw Loor approaching, retreated back into the building and Loor followed through the garage door into the building.
“Finding the actor with a bat in his hand, threatening the officer,” said Rivera. “Officer Loor pulled out his service pistol and ordered the subject to put the bat down, at which time he did comply.”
A couple minutes later, an officer from Northern Berks arrived on scene and helped secure the subject.
“He was alone. He was confronted by somebody who was armed, with a bat. He was able to keep his composure and whits about him and maintained control of the scene,” said Rivera. “He did not know if there were additional subjects in there so he put himself in harms way because he could have been attacked from the rear but again he was able to maintain his composure, using his training. Kept the individual in front of him, maintained a safe distance and was able to get him to disarm by putting the bat down … and secured him when the other officer arrived.”
Rivera said the police department encourages local businesses to have surveillance cameras.
“Those aid law enforcement in the ability to prosecute. So now that we have the individual on video surveillance, we can use that for prosecution. This individual has admitted to being in Cougle’s several times with another actor. So based on the video and information received and evidence collected, we’re now going to pursue in identifying the other actor who was with him in the other burglaries,” said Rivera.
In addition, during the holiday season, Rivera wanted to alert the community that the police are seeing a lot of package thefts from out front of residences.
“Be conscious about what’s coming in because we have package thefts taking place,” said Rivera. “Be vigilant. Work with your neighbors. If you see someone suspicious who is looking from right to left to see if anyone is watching them, give us a call so that we may start the investigation and/or apprehend the individual in the act.”
