January 29, 2004

East Lansing - Michigan State Police Director Colonel Tadarial J. Sturdivant is pleased to announce that Trooper Mark D. Tamlyn of the Cheboygan Post is the 2003 recipient of the Dr. Carl A. Gerstacker Trooper of the Year Award.

The Gerstacker Award recognizes the trooper or sergeant who symbolizes outstanding professional ethics, dedication to duty and a concern for giving back to the community. The late Dr. Carl A. Gerstacker, former chairman of Dow Chemical Company, created the award in 1961.

Tamlyn was chosen for continuously going beyond the normal call of duty both on the job and in his community. Tamlyn’s work ethic and personal life style exhibit his devotion to work and family, as well as his desire to enhance the community he serves while representing the Michigan State Police.

At the Cheboygan Post, Tamlyn is assigned to most child criminal sexual conduct cases because he displays a great deal of compassion and is able to establish a rapport with the young victims. Tamlyn continues his dedication to youth safety by working with area schools in education and crime prevention programs. He is trained as a child car safety seat technician and works with local businesses to train the public in proper installation and usage of child safety seats. Tamlyn is also a TEAM (Teaching, Educating and Mentoring) officer and is working with local schools to implement the TEAM curriculum.

Tamlyn recently began a program to equip all police vehicles in Cheboygan County with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to make officers better prepared as first responders at medical emergencies. On his own time, Tamlyn led a fund-raising effort that raised over $35,000 and enabled AEDs to be supplied to all law enforcement agencies in Cheboygan County. Tamlyn also helped organize training on the use of the AED by officers.

Within one month of the training, law enforcement officers saved the lives of two first responders using an AED. The first was a firefighter who suffered a heart attack at the scene of a fire and then Tamlyn’s own life was saved after he suffered sudden cardiac arrest while on duty.

Tamlyn worked in conjunction with the Northern Michigan Hospital Foundation on the Jump-Start for Life Campaign which was able to place AEDs in the Cheboygan, Wolverine and Rogers City high schools. Many private organizations and individuals have also contacted Tamlyn asking for his assistance in setting up foundations to supply AEDs to law enforcement agencies and schools.

Tamlyn serves as the Cheboygan Post team captain for the law enforcement Special Olympics and is active in law enforcement sponsored Habitat for Humanity homes. He serves as the MSP Seventh District representative to the Michigan State Police Trooper’s Association and is in charge of raising funds for 20 college scholarships each worth $1,000. In addition, Tamlyn is president of the Cheboygan chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and vice president of the Cheboygan Lions Club.

Tamlyn joined the department in 1988, and graduated as a member of the 103^rd Recruit School. After graduation he was assigned to Romeo and Detroit posts before transferring to the Cheboygan Post in 1994. Prior to joining the department Tamlyn served in the Mancelona and Rogers City Police Departments. Tamlyn currently lives in Cheboygan with his wife, Brenda, and his stepdaughter, Katie.