Officer Adrian Garcia is named Fontana Police Department's Employee of the Year

Officer Adrian Garcia has been named the Fontana Police Department’s Employee of the Year for 2021.

Garcia was honored during the City Council meeting on Jan. 25.

“Officer Garcia’s work ethic and dedication to the department is second to none,” said Police Chief Billy Green. “Officer Garcia made many notable and memorable impacts on the community this year. But the most impressive is the number of firearms he recovered and took off the streets.”

From Jan. 1 to July 3, Garcia worked on patrol, and his productivity resulted in the recovery of 40 firearms.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for one patrol officer in a seven-month time frame,” Green said.

His hard work resulted in him being selected to the Fontana P.D.’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) in July. While in this unit, he recovered 35 more firearms.

Of the 75 firearms he recovered during the entire year, 57 were handguns, 13 were rifles, four were shotguns, and one was a TEC-9.

In addition to his duties with the RRT, Garcia is also a defensive tactics instructor and assigned to the Tactical Negotiations Team.

“These two collateral duties take up countless hours, often with readjusting schedules,” Green said.

Green said Garcia should be commended for his willingness to always be available for department needs as they arrive.

“Officer Garcia is a great representative of the department and an even greater employee,” Green said.