Brooklyn Park officer recognized with Police Negotiator of the Year Award

The Brooklyn Park Police Department announced that one of its officers was presented with the Special Operations Training Association’s Negotiator of the Year Award on Monday.

The department said Officer Andrew Tolbert earned the title for his actions during a hostage standoff that occurred in January of last year. Officer Tolbert helped negotiate the release of a seven-year-old child who was locked in a bedroom by an assailant armed with a firearm.

Police say that Officer Tolbert risked his own safety by continuously engaging with the suspect from just outside the door.

The Special Operations Training Association is a nonprofit group that brings special police training to departments in the upper Midwest.