DOWNEY’S POLICE MEMORIAL IS A VIVID DEPICTION OF ABJECT SORROW
By Greater Long Beach
DOWNEY (Via the Downey Beat)—With hundreds on hand as witnesses, the city on Thursday unveiled a memorial to fallen police officers, with a special emphasis on Officer Wayne Presley, the only Downey officer killed in the line of duty.
The bronze statue in front of the Police Department depicts a kneeling officer in a sorrowful bow with his hand over his
face. Of its $90,000 price tag, $60,000 will come from the city’s Art In Public Places Fund while the remaining $30,000 will come from the Police Department’s Assets Forfeiture Fund. That’s from police confiscation of illegal money or materials.
Presley was killed April 10, 1981 when a drunk driver hit him and another officer while they assisted a stalled big rig on Florence Avenue just west of Lakewood Boulevard. He was 37.
The other officer, Steve Guthrie, was critically injured but eventually was able to come back to work, Downey Police Chief Rick Esteves said. At the ceremony, it was Guthrie who placed a folded United States flag on the memorial.
Esteves said Presley, a Navy veteran, was a solid cop who served the community.
“He remained an outstanding police officer, a quiet and easy going man with a passion for motorcycles,” Esteves said. “Simply put, Wayne Presley was a good man.”
Guthrie, who teaches introduction to law enforcement for Downey High’s Regional Occupation Program, said he still thinks about the crash.
17 Comments
Is there a statue representing the sorrow of innocent people killed by police officers? There cetainly are more of them than police officers killed in the line of duty in Long Beach.
Mike, some of us have family and friends who are in LBPD, they are not all evil. In fact most would give their life to save yours. One of my friends took a bullet on duty and is permanently disabled from working the job be was born to do. Have some compassion for our families– we aren’t happy to have seen “bad apples” and the occasional cop gone bad, and we support the belief that bad cops should be stopped and punished–but you have become quite guilty of judging every member of the police force as being a bad person when in fact the vast majority of them are very decent hardworking members of our community. And they are our fathers, brother, sons, and close friends–every day they leave in their uniform we worry we won’t see them again.
You are guilty of prejudice, plan and simple. It is the same thing as calling ALL blacks and Mexicans criminals, losers, lazy etc because of their color of their skin or their “gang banging” attire. Our society isn’t going to solve the problem of police brutality until we abandon the “Us ve. Them” mentality and that includes constant police bashing. Give it a rest already.
Why don’t you actually spend some time talking to a cop? You will find out that they a people too.
LBCityGirl, please point me to the article indicating where Long Beach police have held fund raisers for the innocent people THEY KILLED. You ask me where my compassion is. I respond by saying where is THEIR compassion when it comes to anyone but their own?
I’ll give a rest when I start seeing some changes, not a second beforehand.
You are prejudiced, plain and simple, and you just admitted it.
I certainly must be because you say so.
During a public meeting, I asked Long Beach Police Department former East Division Commander whether it was the police department’s job to “protect and serve” the community as printed on the police cars.
Commander Renaud corrected me by saying it does not say “protect and serve” on Long Beach Police cars.
I repeated my question and again asked Commander Renaud whether it was the responsibility of Long Beach police to “protect and serve” the community. Commander Renaud responded, “our job is to enforce the law.”
I then asked Commander Renaud if what she meant by her response that it WAS NOT the responsibility of the police to “protect and serve” the community. Commander Renaud responded, “our responsibility is to enforce the law.”
Commander Renaud refused to even utter the words “protect and serve.”
From today’s news: “Families to Demand Murder Charges for Long Beach Police Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Men 9 Months Apart”
http://belmontshore.patch.com/articles/families-to-demand-murder-charges-for-long-beach-police-who-fatally-shot-unarmed-men-9-months-apart
I wonder if the families of these residents murdered by Long Beach Police are “prejudiced, plain and simple.” I wonder how much compassion they feel for the Long Beach Police and their murderous ways? How much compassion do they have for an entire police force that covers up for the bad apples rather than weeding them out?
I wrote,”…and we support the belief that bad cops should be stopped and punished.” It is interesting to note Kelly Thomas’s Dad is a retired law enforcement officer. Just sayin’.
LBCityGirl, the fact Ron Thomas is a retired cop is probably one of the key reasons (behind mental illness) for this case gaining such prominence.
How often do you find cops coming out against the criminal actions of other cops? Easy answer; ALMOST NEVER. It took the tragic death of a police officer’s son to make it happen. That in itself is newsworthy.
Retaliation (encouraged by upper management) from OTHER POLICE OFFICERS is the reason cops do not address criminal actions of other cops. Ron Thomas announced on Monday that he felt THREATENED BY POLICE OFFICERS everywhere and is afraid for his life. I suspect these types of threatening interactions are having a dramatic impact on people’s (maybe not yours) compassion for cops.
http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-09-27/news/30214166_1_internal-investigation-officers-death-penalty
According to LA County DA, an initial probe of the Douglas Zerby shooting by Long Beach police has been conducted but prosecutors are waiting for Long Beach police to complete their investigation of the shooting that occurred 10 months ago.
Long Beach police have yet to complete the investigation of their killing of an innocent man because they are waiting for everyone to forget it happened.
http://mobile.latimes.com/p.p?a=rp&m=b&postId=919119&curAbsIndex=0&resultsUrl=DID%3D6%26DFCL%3D1000%26DSB%3Drank%2523desc%26DBFQ%3DuserId%253A7%26DL.w%3D%26DL.d%3D10%26DQ%3DsectionId%253A5224%26DPS%3D0%26DPL%3D3
Why is the LA County DA waiting for the Long Beach Police to finish investigating the Long Beach Police killing of Doug Zerby? Previously, the DA claimed to be conducting their very own INDEPENDENT investigation. Apparently that is not true. Time to bring in the FBI like in the Kelly Thomas case.
http://mobile.latimes.com/p.p?a=rp&m=b&postId=919119&curAbsIndex=0&resultsUrl=DID%3D6%26DFCL%3D1000%26DSB%3Drank%2523desc%26DBFQ%3DuserId%253A7%26DL.w%3D%26DL.d%3D10%26DQ%3DsectionId%253A5224%26DPS%3D0%26DPL%3D3
None of these facts or issues detract from the bravery of most sworn peace officers. Men who fall in the line of duty deserve reward and acknowledgement.
LBCityGirl, how about the people “fall in the line of duty” in my industry? The fatality rate for the industry I work in is several times greater than the police department. They work and bleed just as hard if not harder and recieve a meer percentage of the compensation provided to the cops.
How are people who die providing the products needed and consumed by the public any LESS deserving than police officers?
Ruehle, how many in your industry are murdered and/or feloniously assaulted for no other reason than that they happen to work in your industry?
I’m thinking the answer is just about “zero.”
Speaking only in terms of generic “fatality rates” does not address the true challenge…cops who are murdered just for being cops and for trying to do a tough job as best they can.
How many cops are burned alive, crushed by huge equipment or sliced in half by a cable for no other reason than they happen to be cops?
I’m thinking the answer is just about “zero.”
A person who is crushed by a huge piece of equipment is just as dead as a a cop who is murdered. BOTH are just trying to do tough jobs as best they can. Both are fatalities.
My point is the death rate in my industry greater than in law enforcement. Yet I don’t put them on a pedestal compared to other vocations like you do.
A cop’s death is no more noble or courageous than someone else who dies working a tough job to support their family.
Ruehle, police officers suffer all sorts of fatalities that are considered purely occupational in nature, primarily stress-related heart attacks, training accidents and traffic collisions.
In this they are no different from any other blue-collar worker who works in a hazardous profession environment.
But we have a fundamental disagreement about whether society should honor officers who are killed in the line of duty, and particularly when they are feloniously killed in the line of duty.
All officers that die in the line of duty, die in the course and scope of sworn service to their respective jurisdictions. There is quite literally no civilian profession that is comparable to that of local, state, tribal, or federal law enforcement. In no other civilian profession are employees trained and authorized to deploy deadly force in a lawful manner or have a sworn duty to enforce laws.
None.
This unique sort of service rightly sets police officers apart for special consideration and recognition when they are killed -and particularly when they are murdered- doing their jobs.
Other professions are certainly more hazardous from a purely occupational standpoint. These other professions are certainly deserving of recognition and no one is stopping others within those professions from recognizing and honoring those deaths.
A felonious attack on a police officer is a felonious attack on the entire community from which that officer derives his or her lawful authority. A murder of a police officer likewise diminshes the entire community and deserves special recognition because of it.
Again, this is not to say that others in other professions are not deserving of recognition, only that the unique responsibilities of police work merits the honor and consideration that police officers who are killed receive from their communities.
You seem to disagree and you have every right to do so.
But before you continue to be too critical of this sort of community recognition, I respectfully suggest that you try actually doing the job of a professional police officer in a large city for even a year, let alone decades.
Once you have, then and only then will your protests in this area have much in the way of credibility.
[...] DOWNEY’S POLICE MEMORIAL IS A VIVID DEPICTION OF …Sep 25, 2011 … Mike Ruehle. September 25, 2011. Is there a statue representing the sorrow of innocent people killed by police officers? There cetainly are … [...]