Photos: Four DeKalb police officers earn life-saving awards for 2019, 2021 incidents

DeKALB – Four DeKalb police officers received awards on Thursday for life-saving efforts performed during a Dec. 15, 2019 incident in DeKalb and a June 1, 2021 incident in North Aurora.

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said being a police officer sometimes can be a “thankless” job. He said that’s why it’s important to publicly recognize officers who excel at the job.

“We do this job because we love it,” Byrd said. “It’s a calling for us to do and that’s why we get up every day and do this job.”

DeKalb Police Ofc. Sadie Pristave received a life-saving award on related to a June 1, 2021 shooting incident in North Aurora. Pristave was off-duty during the incident and tended to a person who was shot in the leg in a North Aurora shopping parking lot.

DeKalb Police Ofcs. Trevor Burdick and Elise Dusek and Det. Aaron Kleinmaier received life-saving awards related to a Dec. 15, 2019 deadly shooting incident in the 900 block of West Hillcrest Drive in DeKalb.

Kleinmaier tended to a person who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest during the incident. Burdick and Dusek tended to a person who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and chest during the incident.

Despite police work sometimes being a thankless job, Byrd said he does not want to take officers for granted.

“This is an opportunity for not just me as the chief of the department to thank you, but your command, the City of DeKalb and ... your peers that you work with every day,” Byrd said. “I think it’s important they see the professionalism that you display in these two events that occurred. It’s just extremely important that your families get to see the hard work that you do on a regular basis as well. So I didn’t want to let these opportunities go by to give these to you personally.”