WHPD Promotes Juda to Detective

Peter Juda, a officer since 2002 and a former Simsbury volunteer firefighter, was promoted to detective on Friday.

Juda, 32, has received multiple commendations, including a unit citation for helping to solve a series of commercial burglaries in 2008. He is a member of the department’s underwater recovery team and bomb squad.

“His choice of specialties says a lot,” Chief James Strillacci said at a ceremony before family, friends and police personnel in the police training room.

“Anyone who chooses to work in a hostile environment like water, my hat’s off to him,” Strillacci said. “When it comes to the bomb squad, the last place on earth I want to be is the place where he’s hurrying to get to.”

Juda fills a vacancy created by Detective Brian Enns, who retired in April, Capt. Joseph LaSata said. Enns had been assigned to the special investigations division.

Juda comes from a “family of service,” Strillacci said. His father was the Simsbury fire chief from 1999, until retiring in 2004. His sister served several years in the volunteer department and his brother is a Norwalk firefighter.

Juda was previously a patrol and traffic officer. Most recently he was assigned to the detective division. Last month, he closed a lengthy investigation into an , arresting an East Granby man accused of scamming $500 from a Woodmont Road resident.

The investigation also resulted in the arrest in April of a Willington man on similar charges.

“It wasn’t an isolated incident,” said Juda, also a former West Hartford substitute teacher. “Several other towns have run into him and other people have lost money through him. It’s not a glamorous, glitzy case but hopefully there will be some restitution for the victims.”

Juda, a certified EMT, was a firefighter for 10 years. He is a Simsbury High School and College of Holy Cross graduate. He also was an Eagle Scout for Boy Scout Troop 175 in Simsbury.

Juda and his wife and baby daughter live in West Hartford.