‘Kind of guy you want on your team’: Wichita police honor officer of the year, others
Friends, family and colleagues gathered Wednesday at City Hall to recognize the best of the Wichita Police Department at its annual awards ceremony.
The award list included officer of the year, detective of the year, non-sworn employee of the year and volunteer of the year. Among those in attendance included Police Chief Joe Sullivan, Mayor Lily Wu and Wichita City Council members Dalton Glasscock and Becky Tuttle.
“It’s an honor to stand before you as we celebrate the outstanding achievements of our dedicated law enforcement professionals,” Sullivan said before naming the recipients.
Officer of the Year
John Biagini is 24-year-veteran of the department and works in the runaway office as part of the Exploited and Missing Child unit.
Biagini works with one other officer in the office, where they are tasked with locating missing children and looking into the circumstances of their disappearance after they’ve been found.
He was nominated by Lt. Tom Fatkin, who oversees the EMCU as section commander.
Fatkin said Biagini is an exceptional officer who works a lot of cases, saying the runaway section is “a lot of work.”
Over a five-year time period, the department annually worked 1,700 runaways. In 2023, that number spiked to 2,300, according to Fatkin.
“He shows up every day on time and leaves late most days,” Fatkin said. “John is the kind of guy you want on your team. I’ve never had to say ‘Hey John, can you do something for me?.’ “
Aside from his role in the EMCU, Biagini is the autism liaison for the department and teamed up with the Heartspring school to create a sensory kit for children that are affected by autism.
The initiative implemented several things: Kits in WPD and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles to help calm down people with autism, stickers that can go on houses or vehicles to alert police that they may be interacting with someone with autism and training for all officers on interacting with people with autism, The Eagle previously reported.
Biagini — a father to three children who are autistic and non-verbal — said the project is the accomplishment for which he is most proud in his police tenure.
“It’s kind of [the project] brought everything together to this one moment,” Biagini said. “It makes it all worth it. To create something and put it out to the public that’s only going to get bigger and better as time goes on.”
Biagini credits his wife and children for being the driving force behind his career. He said he’s wanted to be a police officer since he was 9-years-old.
“It’s something that I’ve always known that I wanted to do kind of throughout my life,” Biagini said. “It took me until my early 20s to where I was finally able to achieve that goal.”
Detective of the Year
Detective Kevin Kurtz worked 142 cases in 2023 within the gang felony assault section. A 16-year-veteran of the department, he has also served as a defensive tactics instructor and police academy mentor, and he mentors other detectives who are early in their careers.
Lt. Jason Waite, section commander for the gang unit, nominated Kurtz for the award. Waite lauded Kurtz for his persistence in working investigations and treating people with the utmost respect.
“His dedication, initiative, work ethic and empathy to the community he serves is evident,” Waite said. “Kevin is what the Wichita Police Department looks for in their personnel.”
Some of the cases that Kurtz worked were “extremely complicated” and included a homicide, where he was the lead investigator.
Another case in March 2023 involved 19-year-old man who was shot while waking in a southeast Wichita neighborhood.
The victim was uncooperative at first, but Kurtz was able to make a connection and gather information to arrest the suspects.
“Detective Kurtz built good rapport with the victim’s mother, who convinced the victim to be honest with the detective,” Waite said.
Kurtz interviewed the man who recounted the night he was shot and gave him street names of those involved. Kurtz later identified the two suspects and both individuals were charged in August 2023, Waite added.
“There’s not been a time that I’ve called him and he said ‘I can’t come in,’ “ Waite said.
Kurtz, who’s father ran the Sedgwick County Jail for a number of years, said he didn’t initially plan for a career in law enforcement. He started off in engineering at Wichita State University and then switched to nursing. After being accepted into nursing school, he had a change of heart.
“My dad’s first words were ‘what do you want to do?,’ “ Kurtz said. “From there I wanted to make my own way and that’s why I went to Wichita PD instead of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and I’ve just tried to do the best I can for everyone.”
Non-Sworn Employee of the Year
Richard Dain is a crime analyst for the department and was nominated by Geoffrey Vail, the director of the Crime Analysis Section.
A lifelong resident of Wichita, Dain has worked the past 2-plus years for the unit. Prior to that he worked for the city of Wichita.
“Richard does a lot for us, as an agency, and most officers in our command staff don’t even realize,” Vail said. “Every report that’s sent out, all the maps that are sent out, Richard has a role in all of those.”
“Richard is pivotal,” Vail added.
Dain was lauded for his attention to detail when working with data for hours.
“When it comes to looking over the data and auditing data, Richard goes out of his way to make sure everything is 100% accurate or as accurate as it can be,” Vail said. “Richard is always the one who does that just because he’s so meticulous with how he looks over information.”
Besides his duties as a crime analyst, Dain is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church Ministries.
Volunteer of the Year
Madison McDaniel was awarded volunteer of the year by the department for her work with the Crime Analysis Unit over the summer. McDaniel was not present at the awards ceremony Wednesday.
“She unfortunately could not be here today, so she was already given her award previously,” police Lt. Aaron Moses said.
