The Galesburg Area Crime Stoppers announced the recipient of their annual “Officer of the Year” award today.
Detective Todd Olinger with the Galesburg Police Department received the accolade.
Crime Stoppers Board President Derek Antoine presented a plaque and praised Olinger for his dedication to serving the community with professionalism.
A little choked up, Olinger told WGIL it meant a lot to be recognized.
“It’s a little overwhelming,” Olinger said. “You don’t expect things like that, you just show up to work everyday and just do your job the best you can and hope things work out for the better.”
Olinger is a Des Moines, Iowa native, but moved to Galesburg in the 1990’s and graduated from Galesburg High School. He began with GPD in 2001 after pursuing a highly different career.
“I worked patrol for 10 years and I’ve been a detective for five years,” Olinger says. “I actually came out of professional baseball. I actually came out of professional baseball as an umpire and went to college late after getting out baseball and not knowing what I wanted to do. I chose law enforcement.”
Olinger says working as a detective has taught him a lot about himself, as well as society and people in the community. The detective has largely advocated for educating the community about web and fraudulent scams, aside from his other daily duties.
