It is an honor for Lady Lake police Detective Matthew Duryea as he’s being recognized as the Lady Lake Police Department’s Officer of the Year. The award was formally announced at the town council’s April 19 conference.
He was selected in the law enforcement academy at the College of Central Florida in Ocala and was stationed as a patrolman in Lady Lake by August 2014.
The restaurant business brought Duryea, a New Jersey native, to Florida in 2010. Back in the day, Duryea started as a chef in a high-end restaurant in Miami, but he gave that up shortly to pursue his passion for public service.
“It’s not as big a career change as you might think,” Duryea said. “Being a chef is all about accountability and responsibility. So is law enforcement.”
Duryea said he opted for law enforcement to satisfy his desire to do something in public service that had lingered since he watched the Twin Towers collapse as a college student.
According to him, his favorite duties as patrol officer were policing DUI cases.
“Based on the tests given to suspects, such incidents are fairly objective about whether someone is guilty,” he said, “but every time I went to court and some defense attorney tried to pick apart my case, I took that as an opportunity to learn.”
Two years ago, when a job opened up in the investigations unit, he applied to be a detective, so he could work with longtime Detective Butch Perdue, who has been with Lady Lake for nine years but spent more than 20 years with two sheriff’s offices in Florida.
Lady Lake is a relatively peaceful community. Duryea said most cases he works on are misdemeanors like drug cases and incidents of people who seek to financially exploit the elderly, but his biggest case was the arrest of a town resident wanted on suspicion of possession of child pornography.
The Department of Homeland Security also stepped in, helping uncover hundreds of images from the suspect’s electronic devices. According to the Justice Department, the suspect was convicted last fall and sentenced to 19 years in federal prison in April.
That case prompted Lady Lake Chief Robert Tempesta to nominate Duryea for the Officer of the Year.
Tempesta highlighted in the nomination letter that a federal prosecutor and the judge praised Duryea for his work in bringing the suspect to justice.
“Duryea’s strong work ethic, investigation skills and passion for his position stand out amongst others.” he wrote.
The chief also added that because of that effort, Duryea is now in a regional anti-crime task force managed by Homeland Security.
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
