Castle Rock police honor 40 people, celebrate promotions at annual ceremony

Castle Rock police used its annual awards ceremony to spotlight the kind of work the department is choosing to reward: life-saving responses, team actions, commendations from the public and a service model built around One-By-One policing.

At the ceremony on Saturday, May 2, the department recognized 40 individuals with more than 20 different awards, ranging from Citizen Commendations and Letters of Commendation to Meritorious Unit Awards, Police Achievement Awards, Life-Saving Awards, a S.T.A.R. Award and Police Merit Awards. The town said the honors reached back to accomplishments dating to 2020, showing the event is not just a look at the past year but a broader accounting of performance over several years. The award breakdown included three Citizen Commendations, one Letter of Commendation, one One-By-One Merit Award, four Meritorious Unit Awards, four Police Achievement Awards, three Life-Saving Awards, one S.T.A.R. Award and four Police Merit Awards.

Master Police Officer Dave Moorhead received the 2026 One-By-One Policing Award, the department’s top individual recognition for someone who reflects its service philosophy. Chief Jack Cauley said the ceremony was meant to recognize employees who define what service means, and he pointed to officers and staff who handled challenging incidents with professionalism, compassion and skill. That emphasis matters in a department that says it places a special focus on community policing and on its People, Innovation and Community approach.

The ceremony also marked a significant round of promotions. Two commanders, four sergeants, two corporals and two professional staff members moved up, and the department recognized Sam Varela as its first deputy chief. The town says Varela has served with Castle Rock police since 1998 and has held every sworn leadership position in the department, making him the senior executive directly beneath the chief.

Castle Rock held the ceremony in May, as it does every year, and it was not open to the public because of space limits. Still, the message was aimed at a town of more than 80,000 residents: the department is rewarding not just enforcement, but service, internal leadership and the kinds of responses that build trust when public safety is on the line. In 2024, SafeWise ranked Castle Rock the 6th Safest City in Colorado and 37th Safest City in the U.S., a measure the department now appears intent on reinforcing through promotion and recognition as much as through patrol work.