The award, established by Second Department Presiding Justice Hector LaSalle, is named in honor of Rivera, an esteemed former associate justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, and the department’s first Hispanic associate justice. Rivera retired in 2023.
Presented by Associate Justices Lara Genovesi and Barry Warhit, the honorees included Chief of Public Safety Michael Magliano, Chief of Training Joseph Baccellieri Jr., Captain Steve Vera, and the Court Officers Academy — which provides comprehensive training programs for uniformed personnel and non-uniformed employees designated as “peace officers.”
Baccellieri, New York State Office of Court Administration’s Court Officers Academy commanding officer and chief of training, told the Brooklyn Eagle that while judges, no doubt, are the most vital part of the court system, “If you don’t have a fair, safe, and impartial environment for the administration of justice, we have anarchy.”…