Two Braintree Detectives Receive 2014 Officer Robert P. Dana Award

Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey conferred 2014 Officer Robert P. Dana Awards for meritorious police work to Detectives Thomas Molloy and Stephen Wallace during Law Day ceremonies at Quincy District Court on Friday. 

“Metropolitan Police Officer Dana was shot and killed by a suspect who had gained control of another officer’s weapon in the course of a traffic stop on March 25, 1984,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “He had been an officer for 8 years and had arrived at the stop to assist another officer. The award recognizes exemplary police work, but also recognizes the valor associated with stepping into harm’s way not once, but as a way of life.”

Detective Wallace was recognized for the investigation that led to the apprehension of  a suspect, the so called ““Brim Beanie Bandit,” for a series of bank robberies in several towns in December of 2013 and January of 2014; Detective Molloy’s nomination centered around the successful investigation into multiple reports of a man indecently touching young girls at the South Shore Plaza and the arrest of a suspect.

 “The two detectives were nominated for very different scenarios, but the commonality between the two cases was the patient, professional application of their training and experience,” Morrissey said. “In each instance, it is believed that they likely prevented additional crimes from being committed. An essence of good police work.”

Pictured above: Detective Thomas Molloy, center holding award, pauses after the Dana Award ceremony with, from left, Quincy District Court First Justice Mark Coven, Chief Russell Jenkins, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Margot Botsford and District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey, who presented the award.