Each year the Excellence in Law Enforcement Committee, (which is made up of officers representing every part of the Bellevue Police Department) comes together to determine the Bellevue Police Department Officer of the Year. For the first time ever, the decision was made to add another award for ‘top cop’ in Bellevue by creating a Detective of the Year award. On Tuesday, January 18th, 2022, the Excellence in Law Enforcement Committee met and selected the 2021 Officer and Detective of the Year, and we would like to share who was selected and the reasons.
2021 Officer of the Year – Kirk Meyer
Officer Kirk Meyer, while off duty and driving his personal vehicle near the location of 180th and Dodge Street, noticed that heavy vehicular traffic was slowing to a stop. He then saw a single Omaha Police cruiser driving down the shoulder and watched as the lone Omaha Officer confronted a male party on foot in the middle of the roadway who was covered in blood and acting erratically. Officer Meyer recognized the inherent dangers and, without hesitation, assisted the Omaha Officer in placing the suspect in handcuffs.
Furthermore, Officer Meyer and others were dispatched to the scene of a home invasion that had culminated in a shooting inside the home. Officer Meyer immediately began providing direction and taking control, concentrating on on-scene security and communicating with the persons still inside the house. Officer Meyer employed excellent tactics while searching for the injured party, and he assisted in evaluating the injuries. Officer Meyer located the firearm and directed others in clearing the remainder of the home. His immediate action and excellent tactics during the initial response and beyond ensure the safety of his fellow Officers.
Finally, Officer Meyer was recognized for saving the life of a female party, again while he was off-duty, and he was an integral part of the FTO program during an unprecedented time of growth for the department. His leadership and tactical experience continually set an example for his recruits, his teammates, and his supervisors.
2021 Detective of the Year – Michael Holm
Detective Holm had a very successful year and was the lead detective on several high-profile investigations that spanned several months.
On August 26th, 2020, Detective Holm began an investigation into a female suspect who was using a South Carolina Driver’s License and a victim’s identity to withdraw $8,700.00 from the Wells Fargo Bank located near 36th and Comstock Avenue. He was subsequently informed by the bank that the Omaha Police Department had arrested a similar female and was able to identify the female that the Omaha Police Department arrested as the suspect in the Bellevue incident. She admitted to the Omaha Police Department that she was part of a national crime ring that provides them with an ID and a credit card to fraudulently obtain money from banks. Detective Holm was also notified that during the same time of these incidents, a male suspect, who was believed to be the female’s accomplice, was arrested at Eppley Airfield trying to board a plane in possession of 15 fraudulent credit cards with matching IDs. Detective Holm was able to coordinate with both the Omaha Police Department and the Lincoln Police Department to determine that the two suspects were responsible for a total of $97,075.00 in fraudulent transactions in the two cities.
Detective Holm coordinated with the United States Attorney’s Office, the Omaha Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations to get federal indictments for the people involved. He also wrote search warrants for their cellular phones and in January of 2021, the information collected was used to link the suspects to a Nigerian male who was training people on how to run fraud crews throughout the United States. It was determined that the ring had access to $40-$50 million dollars in account information as well as access to Personally Identifiable information of account holders.
In August of 2021, Detective Holm and Captain Melvin were notified that federal prosecutors were pursuing Federal indictments in multiple states based on the original investigation. Detective Holm was commended by the United States Attorney’s Office and HSI for his detailed investigation and collection of information over the course of several months.
In February of 2022, the Nigerian male was federally indicted in Nebraska. A total of 751 victims were identified and the total loss was calculated to be $5.2 million in attempted fraud and $1.6 million in completed fraud.
From August through September of 2021, Detective Holm worked several burglaries and stolen vehicle cases associated with the same group, several of whom live in Bellevue. He worked with detectives from Omaha, who had cases with the same group, and was able to link members to several burglaries, auto thefts, and thefts from vehicles in Bellevue. At the time of these incidents, one of the Bellevue residents was on an ankle monitor but was believed to still be out committing crimes. Detective Holm noticed a pattern of ankle monitor malfunctions around this same time as these crimes and set up an operation with probation and road patrol to capture the suspect. The suspect was subsequently captured, and it was learned that the technique the probationer was using to defeat the monitor was not known by probation or police and exposed defects in the monitoring system. Members of the group were subsequently charged for their crimes throughout the Omaha/Metro area.
