Calibre Press is pleased to announce that it has partnered with the newly re-named National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame and its co-founders. The team-up was inspired by a shared interest in prominently recognizing the kind of outstanding police work that embodies the spirit of courage, dedication, and selfless service prevalent in law enforcement across the country.

This national organization is based on a regional version launched in 2017 by Ohio residents and avid law enforcement supporters, Megan Stockburger and Adam Davenport. Both have extensive marketing and event planning backgrounds and had run a Hall of Fame event honoring outstanding entrepreneurs. In 2016 Megan’s father, a retired officer, asked why a similar event wasn’t available for police officers. That question proved to be the inspiration for this law enforcement-specific version.

The first HoF event, conducted in 2017 and attended by 100 guests, focused on 10 local Ohio officer nominees. The second, held a year later, focused on 20 local officer nominees and welcomed 200 attendees.

“We started small,” says Stockburger, “but doubled in size in just one year. That really says something. There was a need for this, not only for the officers, their departments and their families but for the community as a whole, and we were filling it.”

“It was certainly our long-term plan to expand the reach of the organization and the Hall of Fame event,” adds Davenport, “but we didn’t realize how powerful the response would be and how quickly the demand for more would escalate. With that, we recognized that moving this forward on a grand scale wasn’t a plan, it was a responsibility. And we needed help.”

In 2018, original Calibre Press co-founder, Chuck Remsberg, attended the Hall of Fame event to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to accomplished national trainer and career-long Toledo officer, Sgt. Charles Humes Jr. Remsberg was extremely impressed.

“The behind-the-scenes professionalism with which the selection process was run was remarkable,” he says, “and the induction ceremony was among the most moving and meaningful events I’ve experienced across more than 30 years of involvement with law enforcement.”

Following the event, Remsberg contacted Calibre Press CEO, Scott Buhrmaster, and suggested that Calibre might leverage its expansive reach and market-leading strength to help the Hall of Fame gain a national presence. With that, Buhrmaster reached out to Stockburger and a partnership was forged.

“The need to help take this organization to a national level was obvious,” says Buhrmaster. “Every day, officers across the country perform selfless, often sacrificial acts in the interest of public service and safety that go unheralded. It’s part of the job, and they know that. They don’t seek praise, but they deserve it. All of us involved in this project are determined to help spotlight these officers’ outstanding work, not only to honor them as individuals, but to honor the profession as a whole.”

“The National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame represents the very core of the Calibre Press mission,” says Calibre President, Lisa Gitchell. “To support law enforcement officers in every way possible not just through training, but through standing in front of the world and saying, ‘This is what law enforcement really looks like. This is what law enforcement is all about. This is why we should all be eternally grateful for the work these brave men and women do every day, everywhere.’”

Currently, the Hall of Fame event centers on six unique awards; Outstanding Young Officer, Outstanding Trainer, the Never Forgotten Award, for which a portion of the money donated to sponsor the event will be given to the deceased officer recipient’s family, Distinguished Service Award, Career Achievement Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nominations are submitted through the Hall of Fame Web site and reviewed by an anonymous panel of hand-selected judges, which will now be led by Chuck Remsberg who has been named Chairman of the Hall of Fame Judges Board. National nominations, which will be submitted through the new Hall of Fame Web site: www.nationalleohalloffame.com, will begin later this year for the 2020 Hall of Fame event.

Nominations for the 2019 event, to be held September 12 in Maumee, Ohio, are now closed. Sponsorships slots for the event, however, are still available. If you would like more information on being a sponsor, please contact Megan Stockburger at mstockburger@leohof.com

Details on next year’s event and how nominations may be submitted will be coming soon. For more information on the organization itself, please contact:

Scott Buhrmaster

info@calibrepress.com

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