Respect. Honor. Remember.



 June 2007:
Detective II John O'Toole, Los Angeles Police Department

May 2007:
Detective Bryan McMahon, Lowell (MA) Police Department

April 2007:
Master Officer Ken Hammond, Ogden City (UT) Police Department

  

OFFICER OF THE MONTH - FEBRUARY 1997

SHERIFF’S CAPTAIN WILLIAM COLAVITA
FAUQUIER COUNTY (VA)

 November 2008:
Officer Justin Bowman, Chesapeake (VA) Police Department and Officer Brandon Bowman,Virginia Beach (VA) Police Department

October 2008:
Senior Officer Specialist Melissa Foy, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)

September 2008:
Detective Thomas McHale, New York and New Jersey Port Authority Police Department (PAPD)

August 2008:
Detective Sergeant John Jedrejczyk, City of Passaic (NJ) Police Department

July 2008:
Detective Eric M. Kovanda, Bloomfield (CT) Police Department

June 2008:
Officer III Andrew Taylor, Los Angeles Police Department

May 2008:
Sergeant Travis Ash, Baker County (OR) and Sr. Trooper Christopher M. Hawkins, Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife

April 2008:
Officers Christopher Timms and Krzysztof Gesla, Baltimore (MD) Police Department

March 2008:
Officer Brian Bobick, DC Metropolitan Police Department

February 2008:
Officers Derrick Dottin, Alex Capobianco, Steven St. Hilaire, Somerville (MA) Police Department

January 2008:
Officer Benjamin Henrich, City of Prescott (WI) Police Department

December 2007:
Sergeant Stephanie Jackson, Tulsa (OK) Police Department

November 2007:
Special Agents Donovan Williams and Kendall Beels, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security

October 2007:
Detective Michael J. Madonna, Oakland (NJ) Police Department

September 2007:
Special Agent Paul Buta, United States Secret Service

August 2007:
Corporal Philip Crosby and Patrolman Christopher Denton, Fayetteville (AR) Police Department

July 2007:
Detective Tina Lacertosa, Broward County (FL) Sheriff's Office

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In 1994, William Colavita stepped into the smoke-filled shack to make the first of several crack cocaine buys. Years of undercover narcotics work had prepared Colavita for almost anything. But, the sight he saw that day made him cringe. There was a baby lying in a seat on the shack’s dirt floor. He quickly finished the drug buy and left. Then, he informed investigators that there was no time to wait—they would have to move immediately to secure the safety of the child. True to form, the case ended successfully. The child was placed in a safe home, and the drug dealers were placed in jail.

William Colavita’s law enforcement career is filled with similar success stories. He began in 1968 with the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office and, after a distinguished 20-year career there, he has continued his outstanding service in Loudoun and Fauqier counties, in Virginia.

His specialty is undercover work. He is a master of disguises. How good is he? Just consider that at one point in his career he fooled the same drug dealer three different times, resulting in three separate arrests. The man never had a clue about who he was dealing with.

During one of his undercover assignments in 1992, with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Colavita was deliberately run down by a narcotics suspect eluding arrest. Despite his injuries, which ultimately would force him into a second retirement, Colavita still made the arrest.

He went on to become a full-time police instructor, but his undercover days were far from over. He took on an unpaid job as a sworn deputy with the rank of captain for the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office. In that role, which continues today, he has worked with a host of neighboring law enforcement jurisdictions in solving some of their toughest cases.

Among his many other achievements, Captain Colavita has two Ph.D’s, as well as an extraordinary 100 percent career conviction rate.