Two veteran Benton police officers were honored with a retirement ceremony Friday at the Benton Municipal Complex. Along with recognition before friends, family and coworkers, Lt. Mike Treasitti and Officer Daniel Creasey each received a shadowed box with department badges, patches, challenge coins, and their duty weapon.
• Lt. Treasitti, the son of Diane Treasitti and the late Mike Treasitti Sr., was born in Aurora, Colo. and a graduate of McClellan High School in Little Rock. After several years as a self-employed business owner, Treasitti began his law enforcement career with the Benton Police Department on July 1, 1996 as a patrol officer.
During his tenure, Treasitti served the community and department in various ways, including being instrumental in starting the department’s bicycle patrol program. Along with completing various fields of training, including graduating from the FBI National Academy on Oct. 1, 2012, he earned prestigious awards.
On July 2014, Treasitti was awarded the Livio A. Beccaccio award from the FBI National Academy Associates, which is a memorial presented to only one FBI National Academy graduate a year nationwide. It’s presented to a member who has demonstrated exemplary character through an act of heroism, outstanding community service, innovation in law enforcement, or leadership reflective of that by which FBI Special Agent Livio A. Beccaccio lived.
Livio A. Beccaccio served as Chief of the National Academy Unit at the FBI Academy from 1987 to 1994. Prior to that, he was the Chief of the Physical Training Unit at Quantico and had multiple assignments since joining the FBI in 1968. He died September 17, 1997 in a helicopter crash which took the lives of 12 members of the international peace mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Treasitti was nominated for the award and selected from a nationwide pool of nominees. He was selected due to an act of heroism involving an in the line of duty shooting that occurred on Interstate 30 in 2013 while trying to apprehend a fleeing felony suspect. Treasitti is the only Arkansan to receive this award. Treasitti also received a Medal of Valor from the Benton Police Department for this incident.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also named Treasitti on the list of 2014 Outstanding Law Enforcement Officers in the state on Nov. 13, 2014.
• Officer Creasey, the son of the late Delbert and Patsey Creasey of Benton, was born and raised in Benton and he is a 1980 Benton High School graduate. He first became employed by the City of Benton as a Police Dispatcher in November of 1991, then later applied for a position as an officer.
In June of 1993, Creasey was hired as a Benton Police Officer and he attended the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy (ALETA). In 1995, he was designated a Field Training Officer, training new recruits which he enjoyed until he retired from active duty in November 2015.
In 1996, Officer Creasey received the Officer of the Year Award from then Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee. He received the award for saving the life of a suicidal woman who unsuccessfully attempted to leap from the Carpenter Street Overpass. In 1997, he received a Commendation from FBI Director I.C. Smith after a traffic stop led to the recovery of a freshly stolen bank vault containing nearly $300,000 cash and the arrest of two suspects. The same traffic stop later led to the recovery of more than $1.5 million in stolen property and the arrest of two more suspects.
In 1997, Creasey attended ALETA again, this time earning an instructor certificate. Later that year, he also aided in the development of the BNPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team, which he remained a member of until retirement. In 1999, Creasey was promoted to Patrol Corporal. In 2003, he transferred to the Special Investigations Unit where he conducted narcotic investigations while assigned to the FBI’s drug task force.
In 2008, Creasey transferred back to the Patrol Division where he remained until retirement. After his retirement, Creasey was retained by the City of Benton to once again work in the Communications Division as a 911 operator, where he remains today.