Two awarded Law Enforcement Officer of Year by Centre County District Attorney’s office
Two members of local law enforcement were recognized with the Centre County Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award on Tuesday during a ceremony held in the Centre County Courthouse.
This year the LEO Award went to Detective Stephen Bosak, of the State College Police Department, and Trooper Michael Brown, of the Pennsylvania State Police. Other candidates were Sgt. Martin Hanes, of the State College Police Department, and Detective Andrew Stager, of the Pennsylvania State University Police.
The award is given annually to a Centre County law enforcement officer in recognition of exceptional service to law enforcement and the citizens of Centre County above and beyond the call of duty, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna wrote in a press release.
“As we address issues of criminal justice reform and policing, it is also important to acknowledge the good work that local law enforcement does for us and our community,” Cantora wrote. “It can be all too easy to lose sight of the fact that the men and women of law enforcement fulfill an important and necessary function of ensuring we live in safe communities and bring justice to victims of crime.”
Leading the ceremony was Centre County Deputy District Attorney Sean McGraw, who said they’ve had a dozen or so viable candidates each year and they’ve never been able to narrow it down to just one.
Bosak has been a detective for more than 30 years, McGraw said during the ceremony, and has always been highly competent, fair, patient and “calls it like it is.”
His nomination stemmed mostly from his work on the serial rape investigation in State College that culminated in the July 21, 2020 arrest of Jeffrey Fields.
McGraw recalled the period between August 2010 and July 2017, when the rapes occurred, as an “unprecedented level of arbitrary violence” in State College. Four college-aged females were brutally raped late at night and there wasn’t much evidence to go on except for DNA, he said.
“Enter Steve Bosak,” McGraw said. “About three years ago, Steve contacted me to see if our office would support a forensic genealogical approach to investigation.”
He and another detective, Nicole Eckley, then embarked on a “tedious” process of constructing the family tree that would eventually identify the suspect, McGraw said. A warrant was issued for Fields’ DNA and it matched. He was arrested and is now in custody facing multiple counts of rape by rape by forcible compulsion and assault.
“This was undoubtedly the finest piece of detective work I have seen in my career to date,” McGraw said. “Thirty-seven years after he took his oath to protect and serve, Steve is still going strong. Mark my words, he is not idle. His work is far from finished. And we may not have even yet seen the finest hour of his remarkable career. There is no more relentless hound in the pursuit of justice than Steve Bosak.”
Brown’s nomination came from many sources, McGraw said. But the most compelling nomination came from a mother of a crime victim of a pending case.
“The victim’s mother nominated Trooper Brown because of his compassion, his diligence and his ability to communicate sensitive information to the family,” McGraw said. “These are traits that Trooper Brown brings to all of his investigations.”
Brown had his hands in many serious cases, McGraw said, including a 2017 murder in Spring Township, an investigation of a drug delivery resulting in death in Bellefonte at the height of the opioid epidemic and an investigation into allegations of a 2019 rape of a minor in Penns Valley.
“A common feature of Trooper Brown’s cases, high victim impact with crimes, but with an excellent result that brings peace of mind and closure,” McGraw said.
Brown no longer works for the state police, but McGraw said he was one of his favorite investigators and he is missed.
