George L. Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery

Here you can learn about the Trooper George L. Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery.

Trooper George L. Hanna

The Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery is an annual award ceremony named after Trooper George L. Hanna, who lost his life serving the Commonwealth on February 26, 1983.  Trooper Hanna began his career on October 15, 1974 and served nearly ten years with the Massachusetts State Police.

On Saturday, February 26, 1983, Trooper Hanna conducted a motor vehicle stop in the town of Auburn.  Three men and two women were in the vehicle, and when Trooper Hanna removed the occupants for questioning, he was instantaneously shot six times by one of the male suspects. He died later that evening in a Worcester hospital, leaving behind his wife Marilyn, and three children, Deborah, Kimberly, and Michael.  His three assailants are serving life sentences.

Awards

The Hanna Awards, which have been held annually since 1983, have become a symbol of prestige, within both the law enforcement community and the Commonwealth as a whole.  It's an opportunity to publicly recognize the bravery of members of the law enforcement community who put their lives on the line by dedicating themselves to safety throughout Massachusetts.

Submit a nomination 

Criteria

The Trooper George L. Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery program consists of two levels. Nominations may be made for an individual or for a group award involving multiple officers, if each individual officer meets the following criteria:

Medal of Honor

The highest and most prestigious award

Awarded to a police officer who demonstrates actions above and beyond the call of duty, exhibiting extraordinary bravery and courage in the face of extreme risk and certain and imminent danger to life or limb. The police officer’s actions are performed in the course of a dangerous incident to protect or save the life of a colleague or citizen, in selfless disregard for the officer’s own safety and often result in great cost to the officer, including loss of life. Medal of Honor recipients should display exceptional levels of professionalism, competence, leadership, and clear thinking during a dangerous incident while on or off duty. The officer’s actions must be so outstanding that they clearly distinguish heroism from lesser forms of bravery. The award may be made to an officer who has lost his or her life in the line of duty under conditions in which the officer displayed professional law enforcement actions and duties consistent with good police practices.

Medal of Valor

The second highest award

Awarded to a police officer who demonstrates actions above and beyond the call of duty, exhibiting valor, courage and bravery while disregarding the potential for danger or great risk to him or herself and whose actions do not rise to the level of Medal of Honor, during the course of an individual incident.

Note: Nominations should be based upon an individual’s response to a critical single incident. Nominations should not be based upon an officer’s response to an incident that is considered to be routine police work or for an expected course of action committed in the performance of a police officer’s duties.