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Held annually since 1977, the California Peace Officers Memorial ceremony added the names of 11 officers who last year lost their lives in the line of duty as well three others whose EOW - End of Watch - came decades earlier. The event held Sunday and Monday drew family members of those who died while they protected and served and peace officers from throughout the state, including Santa Paula Police Senior Officer Jeremy Watson. Above (left) are wreaths in memory of fallen officers. Upper right are the lines of police cars from around the state. Bottom photo, the Memorial. |
Santa Paula Police Senior Officer Jeremy Watson attends California Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony
May 06, 2011
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. stated the 2011 California Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony “is a somber reminder of the bravery and valor of the men and women behind the badge who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our communities safe. These weren’t just peace officers, they were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and friends to many. Through the countless lives they touched, their memory will live on.”
Held annually since 1977, the California Peace Officers Memorial ceremony added the names of 11 officers who last year lost their lives in the line of duty as well three others whose EOW - End of Watch - came decades earlier. The event held Sunday and Monday drew family members of those who died while they protected and served and peace officers from throughout the state, including Santa Paula Police Senior Officer Jeremy Watson.
It was the forth time Watson - who caravanned from Valencia to the Sacramento-based memorial on Sunday with the Santa Monica Police Association, its 20th annual trip - has attended the memorial. “It’s a different experience every time you go,” said Watson.
“The emotions are the same, but the experience is different,” although his motivation remains the same. “I take pride,” noted Watson, whose late father was also a police officer, “in showing my support to the family and friends of the fallen officers.”
The almost nine-feet tall three bronze figures of the memorial, which depicts a county sheriff from the 1880s, a state traffic officer of the 1930s and city patrolman of the 1980s, memorializes more than 1,500 peace officers who have died in the line of duty since California became a state. The three figures look down on a life-size figure of a woman comforting a child sitting on a bench, representing the grief torn families they left behind.
Sunday evening was the Candlelight Ceremony, and Monday was the time for speeches and the release of doves as the story of each officer who lost his life in 2010 was told. Bagpipers played “Amazing Grace” and thousands of peace officers were lined up on the lawn of the state Capitol. Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom addressed the crowd.
SPPD Chief MacKinnon encouraged department participation, another reason why Watson is trying make attendance at the state memorial ceremony an annual event.
“That’s another reason why I go... from what I understood the SPPD had never been involved in going to Sacramento. When Chief MacKinnon brought it up the department was pretty excited and I was excited to get in the mix with everyone else,” although such trips are paid for by officers. And attendance, said Watson, “shows just because you’re a small agency doesn’t mean you can’t be involved in things that are important.”
Watson is still wearing the black band on his SPPD badge he wore for the memorial trip: “It’s called a mourning band, signifies the mourning for the officer who lost his life.”
And solidarity of purpose with others at the memorial ceremony: “It’s like walking down the street and passing strangers you don’t know, but you share so much with them... God forbid I should be killed in the line of duty; they’d be out there for me. Why shouldn’t I show my respect for them?”
After all, added Watson, “We’re all a big family, all out here working to do the same things, have the same goals - keeping people safe. At least one time in every officer’s career they should attend....”
Some officers - including those from various Ventura County law enforcement agencies - attended with family members, an aspect of the event that Watson said brightened the gathering and even added an element of fun. But with his fourth annual attendance, “Does it get any less emotional? No, you never get used to it.”
Last year Watson attended with SPPD Sgt. Ryan Smith and SPPD Reserve Officer Tim Halloran, and the three made a point of finding the names of Santa Paula’s own fallen officers, Marshal Henry Norman, gunned down in 1913 and Officer James Barmore, killed in a motorcycle accident while responding to a call in 1953. Traces were taken of the officers’ bas-relief names from where they are listed on the memorial.
Watson said those memorialized this year lost their lives in various ways: one was killed last year on the same day the memorial ceremony was held in an airplane accident; others died in vehicle crashes while most were murdered. “One died from complications of being shot in 1980... he was honored, and rightfully so.”
Watson is thinking of attending the Washington, DC Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony next year. “I will definitely save up,” he noted.
2011 Honored Officers are: Orange County Sheriff Sgt. Ira G. Essoe Jr.; Fresno County Sheriff Deputy Joel Be Wahlenmaier; San Diego County Sheriff Deputy Kenneth J. Collier; Reedley Police Officer Javier Bejar; CHP Border Division Officer Daniel N. Benavides; San Bernardino CHP Officer Thomas B. Coleman; CHP West LA Officer Phillip D. Ortiz; CHP Barstow Officer Justin W. McGrory; CHP Templeton Officer Brett J. Oswald; San Diego Police Officer Christopher A. Wilson; and Riverside Police Officer Ryan P. Bonaminio.
Enrolled from prior years are Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Frank Hamilton, EOW 1895; CHP San Jose Officer George A. Humburg, EOW 1944; and Dept. Fish & Game Warden Clarence Brown, EOW 1959.
