BERKELEY, Mo. - It was December 23, 2014, and the tension was high and so were the stakes.
It was a month after parts of Ferguson and Dellwood, Missouri, had erupted in flames. There had been a deadly officer-involved shooting in neighboring Berkeley. So, Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall knew how important his job would be that night, as he arrived on scene.
"You just hope and pray for peace," Chief McCall said.
That peace would come after one night of violence, when people threw rocks and explosives at police, and tried to set a nearby QuikTrip on fire. But in the end, no one was seriously hurt and no businesses were seriously damaged.
"We will be always grateful to the officers that responded," Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said.
"The officers reacted professionally, showed great dedication," Chief McCall said.
Saturday, the city of Berkeley recognized each of the 220 officers that responded from 40 area departments.
"We all work together, and without the efforts of all these departments combined, it would have been really difficult to do our job that night," Chief McCall said.
"We will respond to help each other at any given time, anywhere. That's what the law enforcement community does," Bridgeton Chief Don Hood, who attended the ceremony on behalf of his responding officers, said.
The city is also crediting a transparent investigation with the calm in Berkeley. It released surveillance video right after the shooting of the suspect pointing a gun at police.
