PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
In early 2023, the names of 10 fallen officers from the Los County Sheriff’s Department were submitted for consideration for inclusion in the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which is in Washington, D.C., at Judiciary Square, adjacent to the National Law Enforcement Museum. There are over 23,000 names of law enforcement officers on the National Memorial who have died in the line of duty throughout American history.
All 10 submissions (one suffered a fatal cardiac episode, six passed from COVID-19 and three passed in motorcycle/vehicle incidents) met the National Memorial’s criteria for inclusion, and the names of our fallen heroes will be forever engraved on the Memorial walls prior to National Police Week on May 11–16:
- Motor Officer Morgan Honeycutt (EOW: December 19, 1928)
- Motor Officer John Black (EOW: November 22, 1929)
- Detective Amber Leist (EOW: January 12, 2020)
- Deputy Timothy Tellez (EOW: December 22, 2020)
- Sergeant Jamie Arakawa (EOW: February 8, 2021)
- Deputy Pedro Romo (EOW: February 14, 2021)
- Sergeant Armando Meneses (EOW: February 16, 2021)
- Detective Anthony Bautista (EOW: August 18, 2021)
- Deputy Andrew Myers (EOW: October 20, 2021)
- Sergeant Christopher Bracks (EOW: May 10, 2022)
Every May 13, the names of officers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the previous calendar year, as well as officers’ deaths that occurred in a previous year but were determined as a line-of-duty death, are dedicated and read aloud during the annual candlelight vigil.
In 1962, President Kennedy signed a joint congressional resolution proclaiming May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. The roll call of heroes will be read at the May 15 memorial service on the United States Capitol lawn.
It should be noted that the inclusion criteria for the National Law Enforcement Memorial and the California Peace Officers’ Memorial have differing guidelines. The Los Angeles County Peace Officers’ Memorial follows the California Peace Officers’ Memorial guidelines for inclusion onto its wall.
Each year in the April issue of Star & Shield, PPOA also honors and pays tribute to our California peace officers who gave their lives in the line of duty the previous year and who will be memorialized in May at local, state and national ceremonies.
In 2022, California tragically lost eight peace officers in the line of duty. Four were killed by gunfire, one passed in a vehicle incident, one passed in a helicopter crash, one passed from COVID-19 and one passed during a training exercise. On page 26, you will find the names of eight fallen heroes who will be honored in Sacramento, along with an officer who died in the line of duty in 2021 after suffering a fatal cardiac episode.
Please make every attempt to attend one of the following memorial ceremonies as we collectively and publicly commit that our fallen officers and their surviving families will never be forgotten:
- May 7 and 8: California Peace Officers’ Memorial Candlelight Vigil and Enrollment Ceremonies in Sacramento
- May 13 and 15: National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Candlelight Vigil and Memorial Ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
- May 24: Los Angeles County Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center
This past February, PPOA President Nancy Escobedo joined representatives from the Southern California Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) and family members of fallen officers for a meeting to discuss National Police Week and the Police Unity Tour (May 8–12). PPOA is honored to be counted among the organizations providing support to family members and helping them navigate the full schedule of National Police Week events in our nation’s capital.
“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
— Vivian Eney Cross, survivor