MILFORD — The Milford Police Department officer who survived being shot while apprehending a suspect in Rehoboth Beach was named the city’s Officer of the Year on Monday.

“We’re very proud of you,” Mayor Archie Campbell said to Senior Cpl. T.J. Webb during a City Council meeting. “I want you to be aware of that.”

On Dec. 10, Cpl. Webb was serving a warrant in Rehoboth Beach with a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, which he was assigned to part time, when he was shot several times by the person he was trying to arrest. The suspect died in an exchange of gunfire.

“He spent a week in the hospital, then came out and spent two more weeks in inpatient rehab,” said Milford Police Chief Kenneth Brown. “Since Dec. 30, he has been recovering at home and has recently had additional surgeries.”

The chief said Cpl. Webb has managed to keep his spirits high.

“What I’m most impressed with is his frame of mind through this entire thing,” the chief said. “His spirits were always real high, while maintaining a real positive attitude.”

He said this outlook on the situation was “infectious to the rest of us or, in fact, anyone that was around him. There’s no doubt this played a big part in his recovery, and it sure helped the rest of us deal with this event.”

When interviewed in December, Robb Warfel, a friend of Cpl. Webb’s, agreed that his high spirits had helped.

“He’d give you the shirt off his back. He answers his phone when you call. Advice, whatever you need, he’s there,” Mr. Warfel said.

Chief Brown also provided some insight into Cpl. Webb’s tenure with the department.

“He came to us from Camden,” the chief said, when Cpl. Webb “started with us in 2007 as a patrolman.”

He became a first-class patrolman in 2008 and a corporal in 2016. From 2012-17, he was one of the department’s K-9 officers.

“He and his partner, (K-9) Hank, had many apprehensions and drug seizures, for a total of $164,080 net worth of drugs and $49,392 in cash,” the chief said.

“In 2018, he was promoted to senior corporal and was assigned part time to the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force,” he said. “I couldn’t even begin to list the number of apprehensions he’s gotten while working on that task force.”

Cpl. Webb thanked the chief, the council and the mayor for his award Monday night.

Chief Brown also took the opportunity Monday to recognize his administrative assistant, Victoria Sessoms, as the recipient of the department’s Civilian of the Year Award.

“Vicki started at City Hall, I believe, in 1995 or 1996,” he said. “She moved over to the police department in the middle of 1997.”

Since then, he said Ms. Sessoms has consistently gone above and beyond for the department.

“She maintains my calendar (and) takes my calls, but she (also) does our grant work, which is probably a position in itself,” the chief said. “She monitors the grants. She applies for the grants. She pretty much does everything with the grants.”

Additionally, Ms. Sessoms has taken on the department’s payroll, he said.
“Most of you in the city know how complicated the police payroll is,” Chief Brown said. “She has to come in Sundays and holidays quite often in order to make sure that runs smoothly.”

Even in the midst of her demanding schedule, Ms. Sessoms has found time to network with her counterparts.

“She had the initiative to start a networking group with other administrative assistants in other departments throughout the state,” Chief Brown said. “We’ve actually seen a lot of value. … The other departments tell me how much value they’re getting out of it.”

At this point, he said she is essentially the utmost authority on the police department’s administrative workings.

“Just from being there that long, she has become the go-to person for anything in the department because she has a very good working knowledge of the entire department,” Chief Brown said.

After honoring these two employees, City Council also got some insight into how COVID-19 has impacted the police department and the rest of city government.

“Due to numerous cases of COVID-19 in the department, the statistics for January are lower than usual,” said Councilman Mike Boyle, the chair of the Police Committee. “(In) January, there were only 64 arrests made by the police department, which is a decrease of 155 from the previous report.”

The chief said that “it seemed like right there in December and January was our worst time.”

City Manager Mark Whitfield said the rest of the city’s staff has not been immune to the virus.

“COVID has hit our employees hard. We had a total of 23 infected employees,” he said. “I’m happy to report that by the end of (January), 20 of them have recovered, and none of them are hospitalized.”

Both the chief and Mr. Whitfield said that people are returning to work and that the city government is getting back to normal.

Mr. Whitfield said Jamesha Eaddy, the director of the city’s Human Resources Office, is working with the Division of Public Health to set up a vaccination for municipal employees at City Hall.