The State Troopers PBA is proud that Trooper Andrew J. Sperr continues to be recognized and remembered for his heroic acts. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor from the NYS Association of Chiefs of Police, and a criminal justice scholarship has been established in his name at Monroe Community College. Trooper Sperr made the ultimate sacrifice on March 1 when he was shot and killed by a bank robber during a traffic stop. Below is an article from the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper of Rochester.

Medal, scholarship honor fallen Trooper Sperr

By Victoria E. Freile
Staff writer

December 5, 2006 12:30 pm — Trooper Andrew Sperr today posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor, the top annual award of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Each year, the association honors an officer who went above and beyond in the line of duty, said Association Executive Director John Grebert. This year, Sperr will share the honor with another fallen officer – New Harford Police Officer Joseph Corr, who was shot and killed during a foot chase on Feb. 27, Grebert said.

Sperr was killed in the line of duty on March 1, when he was shot by a bank robber he had stopped on a rural roadway in Chemung County.

The honor was announced at a ceremony at Monroe Community College’s Damon City campus in Rochester. Sperr, 33, was a 1994 graduate of the school’s criminal justice program and was a state trooper for 10 years.

During the event, members of the Monroe County Association of Chiefs of Police announced establishment of a criminal justice scholarship program in Sperr’s honor. Brockport Chief and Association President Daniel Varrenti gave college officials $2,000 raised by the association at a benefit concert in August.

"It is our intent to continue this scholarship program on an annual basis…as a means to give back to the community we serve," he said.

MCC President R. Thomas Flynn matched the initial $2,000 in scholarship funds pledged for criminal justice students. The first scholarships will be awarded in spring 2007.

Approximately 670 students are currently enrolled in the college’s criminal justice degree program, he said.