LUDLOW — Chief Daniel Valadas reports that Det. Lt. David Kornacki, recently named the Richard Werenski Police Officer of the Year by the Western Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, will be retiring in July after 31 years of service in Ludlow.
Det. Lt. Kornacki joined the Department in 1994 as a Patrol Officer. In 1997, he was promoted to the Detective Bureau.
Since 2024, Det. Lt. Kornacki has served as a Lieutenant and currently serves as the Commanding Officer of the Ludlow Police Department Detective Bureau, leading six detectives in the oversight of the Investigations Divison and the Department’s School Resource Officer and CIT program.
Throughout his 30-year career, Det. Lt. Kornacki embraced every opportunity to expand his knowledge and skill set for the Department’s and community’s greater benefit. His accomplishments include: D.A.R.E officer, certified sexual assault investigator, trained School Resource Officer, certified background investigator, certified hostage negotiator, financial crimes investigator, FEMA Incident Command System trained (up to the advanced level), trained Top Gun Undercover Narcotics Officer and certified ALICE instructor.
In 2017, Det. Lt. Kornacki received the ASIS Outstanding Achievement Award for outstanding leadership and commitment to policing.
In 2023, he received the Center for Human Development (CHD) Ascent Award, celebrating his significant achievement in bolstering CHD’s efforts to provide a broad range of high-quality, community-oriented human services dedicated to promoting, enhancing and protecting the dignity and welfare of people in need.
Last year, Det. Lt. Kornacki was one of six Department members to complete the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Course, which teaches comprehensive leadership skills. His achievement helped Ludlow Police earn the prestigious FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award.
In January, Det. Lt. Kornacki’s years of dedicated service earned him the Western Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association’s Richard Werenski Police Officer of the Year Award.
The award recognizes an officer in Western Massachusetts who has demonstrated the highest standards of professional conduct, and diligence to duty, loyalty, honesty, and integrity as a police officer within their department. The recipient should accomplish tasks in the best interests of the department and the community, have the initiative to solve problems and address situations before they become problems, and be a model of the law enforcement code of ethics.
“We are very happy for Det. Lt. Kornacki; he deserves his solace and our gratitude for his 31 years of honorable police service to the Town of Ludlow,” said Chief Valadas. “We are also saddened that the police department is losing one of the best police officers that the department has ever employed and that I have ever known. His abilities and knowledge are unmatched, and we will greatly miss him.”
Det. Lt. Kornacki will retire on July 11.
In a letter to the Chief announcing his retirement, Det. Lt. Kornacki said, “I have found this experience to be beyond everything I had hoped it would be, and yet nothing like I had expected. My role has given me the chance to celebrate with our community when we have experienced our best and allowed me the opportunity to help and support my neighbors when we have endured our worst.”
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