Two Massachusetts State Police Troopers won celebrated awards in a national law enforcement program for their observation of license plates in separate incidents that resulted in the arrest of two murder suspects and an armed robber.
On May 16th, 2005 at Massachusetts State Police Headquarters in Framingham, Trooper Barry Shea of the Middleborough Barracks and Trooper James M. Gamari of the Cheshire Barracks were presented with the "Looking Beyond the License Plate" Honorable Mention Awards. The awards were presented by Earl Sweeney, Chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Highway Safety Committee and Deputy Director of Public Safety for New Hampshire. The IACP Safety Committee commended the Troopers on their diligent and deductive police work that led to the apprehension of the criminals.
Trooper Barry Shea, who was responding to a brutal murder in Brockton in July 2002, spotted the license plate on a vehicle wanted in connection with that case. He made the traffic stop and apprehended two suspects wanted for murder.
Last year, Trooper James N. Gamari was the desk officer at the Cheshire Barracks and received license plate information about an individual selling ski tickets stolen from a resort. Trooper Gamari recognized the license plate information from an armed robbery report the previous day and provided the information to the Massachusetts State Police Troopers responding to the resort. As a result of this information, the suspect was arrested at the resort for the more serious charge of armed robbery.