Major Shawn Platt Retires from Ridgefield Police Department

***RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT***

Today, December 30, 2024 Major Shawn Platt is retiring from the Ridgefield Police Department. He began his career with the Ridgefield Police Department on December 19, 1996. During his tenure with the department, Major Platt held the following ranks and commands:

Officer (1996-2000), Det. Youth Officer (2000-2008), Sergeant (2008-2011), Lieutenant (2011-2018), Captain (2018-2021), Major (2021-2024).

During his career, Major Platt received many recognitions and held a variety of specialized assignments to include:

-DARE Instructor

-Handcuffing Instructor

-Taser Instructor

-Human Trafficking Instructor

-Peer Support Coordinator

-Field Training Officer

-Accident Investigation Team Member

-Accident Reconstructionist

-Exceptional Service Award Recipient (2000)

-Officer of the Year (2004)

-Unit Citation (2016)

Major Platt served on the executive board of the Union at the position of Treasurer (1998-2020). He managed the Annual Union Golf Tournament (2005-2020) making it one of the most desired tournaments to play.

Though Major Platt held many positions throughout his career in which he excelled, his time as the Youth Officer had an everlasting impact on our department. At a time when police and youth relationships were strained, Shawn was tasked with developing programs to change the perceptions that youth had towards police. He designed and implemented numerous youth-oriented programs and ultimately greatly improved relationships between police and the youth population. One

of these programs is the Junior Police Academy (JPA). Major Platt began this program in 2003 and because of his efforts, the JPA is one of the most sought after and engaging youth programs we have. His commitment to the youth in our community laid the foundation and guided us in a positive direction. Shawn played an integral role in the positive community relationships that we have today.

We would like to thank Major Platt for his 29 years of dedicated service to the Ridgefield Police Department and the community. Please join us in wishing him well in his future endeavors. Congrats Shawn!