2011 Kathy Swanson Outstanding Service Award Winner
The Kathy Swanson Outstanding Service Award recognizes an individual or individuals who have shown exceptional leadership in efforts to improve traffic safety in Minnesota, build partnerships, and mentor others in the field. Recipients will also have demonstrated a long-term passion, dedication, and commitment to reducing the number of deaths and injuries resulting from crashes on Minnesota roads.
The recipients of this year's Kathy Swanson Outstanding Service Award are Bob O'Brien and Brad Kollman.
Bob O'Brien and Brad Kollman
Bob O'Brien
Bob O'Brien and Brad Kollman are two of Minnesota’s “Fab Four”—the DPS’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) liaisons to the law enforcement community in the state.
Bob joined the OTS after 32 years with the Minneapolis Police Department; all but two of those years were spent in the traffic unit by his choice. He was a liaison for the OTS for 17 years before retiring this past year.
Brad came to the OTS after a 30-year career with the St. Peter Police Department, whose traffic enforcement efforts had made the department well known to OTS before anyone there had met Brad. Before retiring in 2011, he served as a liaison for 13 years.
Bob’s and Brad’s commitment to traffic safety and public service is outstanding, not only for the length of time of their service but for what they accomplished in that time. They drove countless miles to bring traffic safety to the attention ofevery department.
Brad Kollman
They’ve made presentations to approximately 300 city councils and county boards, establishing a foundation for political permission to pay close attention to traffic violations. Hundreds of officers who had never written a seat belt citation now enforce that law as part of their everyday activities, and dozens of police chiefs who thought crime was their main concern now recognize traffic safety’s heavy impact on their citizens and direct their officers to act accordingly.
See previous Kathy Swanson Outstanding Service Award Winners