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Hello, I am a Sergeant with the Tomball Police department in Texas. A few years ago a new Chief came to us from the LAPD. The fact that we were getting someone from Los Angeles police department here in our small city was pretty cool. This person spent twenty years with LAPD and retired as a Captain. It was amazing to think that our new Chief has seen and been involved in things that most of us around here would only see on TV, we could only imagine the stories he has had along with the accomplishments and losses.
Our new Chief Robert Hauck got settled into his new position and has done a wonderful job. It has been three years now and so much has been accomplished. Our Chief has brought a great working relationship with other agencies; fire, police and EMS, as well as we had our first departmental inspection in 2010. Our second is coming next month. One thing for sure is that our chief has brought us an aviation unit. “Yes” I said an aviation unit. Our department is a made up of sixty sworn and non sworn personnel. Our city is approximately 15,000 citizens with 100,000 people shopping and coming to our city on a daily basis. You say an aviation unit just outside the 4th largest city in the united states Houston, who has 10+ helicopters. I would tell you that this is basically unheard of.
It is the way our Chief has represented him self and made working relationships throughout the country. Our aviation unit is made up of nine personnel, six from our organization and three from the Harris County Sheriffs department. We are a new unit and part time at this time as we continue to pursue the goals of the unit. All I can say is that I/we are shocked that we even have an aviation unit. After hearing my Chief discuss how he was a LAPD rookie for the first time requesting an airship to check the roof of an alarm, how easy it was to have the air unit check the roof time and time again throughout his career.
In 2010 our department had a home invasion, where an elderly couple was beaten, almost to death for their possessions. It became very frustrating for my Chief during this time, because one of the first times in his law enforcement career he could not request over the radio for the aviation unit to check the surrounding area for the suspects that left on foot and ran into a wooded area. Our department called other agencies with an air unit if they could assist and at that time they could not. During the investigation we found out that the grandson of the victims had a small helicopter and it was him a private citizen who came to the rescue for air support. Very frustrating for an LAPD retired Captain. Also in 2010 our Chief attended a conference where he had met the program manager with the Department of Justice aviation technology program. This relationship started the process of our small city having an aviation unit.
During the time that our Chief has been here we have come to know 41D. It is no secret that our Chief has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the LAPD. His memories with your agency are real and we see how real they were as we enter his office and see the many awards and accomplishments throughout his career. One person and one incident are obvious and close to our Chiefs heart is that of Randy Simmons 41D. We see 41D on his rear windows of his cars, and the memories and posters of Randy in his office. In fact every person in our agency knows 41D.
Shortly after we received our small Gyroplane, which by the way is the first one in Law Enforcement history. We call our Gyroplane “Michael One”, named after the Angel Michael the Police protector, so our call sign was issued and complete from the FAA. But after thinking about it, we still felt like something was missing. You see when we received our new Chief from the LAPD, we received the LAPD and it only made sense for us to give honor to someone who we never met but is one of our brothers 41D. So we added 41D to our new Gyroplane. Along with Michael One and 41D we are now complete. We added the sticker 41D to the front area of our Gyroplane. I am attaching two photos, one of our unit. Our Chief is standing at the right.
Shortly after we received our small Gyroplane, which by the way is the first one in Law Enforcement history. We call our Gyroplane “Michael One”, named after the Angel Michael the Police protector, so our call sign was issued and complete from the FAA. But after thinking about it, we still felt like something was missing. You see when we received our new Chief from the LAPD, we received the LAPD and it only made sense for us to give honor to someone who we never met but is one of our brothers 41D. So we added 41D to our new Gyroplane. Along with Michael One and 41D we are now complete. We added the sticker 41D to the front area of our Gyroplane. I am attaching two photos, one of our unit. Our Chief is standing at the right.
Sgt. Keith Bitz Tomball Police Department
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By C.J. Lin Staff Writer
Posted: 09/15/2011 06:38:30 PM PDT
Updated: 09/15/2011 07:06:26 PM PDT
(Andy Holzman / Staff Photographer)
LAPD Chief of Police Charlie Beck presents a Purple Heart Award to Lisa Simmons whose husband Randal was killed during a SWAT situation on February 7, 2008. 82 officers were honored during the Inaugural Purple Heart Ceremony in Los Angeles, CA Thursday September 15, 2011.
Craig Kerbrat recalls the day in February 1991 when two police officers arrived at his door. Although he was only 6, he knew their presence was a bad sign.
His mother, Officer Tina Kerbrat, had been killed by a gunshot to the face after stopping to question two men drinking beer. The 34-year-old rookie was the first woman killed in the line of duty in the Los Angeles Police Department.
On Thursday, Craig Kerbrat, now 26, accepted a Purple Heart medal on his mother’s behalf in an inaugural ceremony honoring 82 Los Angeles police officers killed or traumatically wounded in the line of duty.
“It’s obviously not a good thing to be a part of,” said Kerbrat, referring to the number of family members who had to accept the medal for a dead officer. “But it’s an honor.”
(Andy Holzman / Staff Photographer)
The Purple Heart is awarded to officers who have sustained traumatic physical injury or death during while on-duty.
Forty of the recipients had been killed in the line of duty and 42 were wounded in incidents dating back to 1921.
“It filled the gap in the way we recognize officers,” said Police Chief Charlie Beck. “We have to make up for a lot of lost time.”
The ceremony comes at a time when attacks on police officers in Los Angeles are up more than 40 percent.
“A big wrong was righted today,” said Police Commissioner Alan Skobin, who spearheaded the creation of the award. “This is a fulfillment of our promise to never forget those who have died for us, and the recognition of the suffering that officers and their families went through when they were injured.”
The first to be honored was Sgt. John Fitzgerald, who was killed in June 1921 while leading a raid on a home in which Prohibition-era liquor and drugs were stashed. He was shot in the stomach on the porch, but chased a suspect about 60 feet before collapsing. He died less than two hours later.
His grandson, Tom Fitzgerald, had never known him – his father was only 5 when the sergeant was killed. But he was there to accept the medal, 90 years after his grandfather was killed, with tears in his eyes.
“I wish I had known him,” said Fitzgerald, 65. “It’s just sad to see all the people who grew up without a father, a grandfather.”
The ceremony was also emotional for Lisa Simmons, whose husband, Randal Simmons, died in February 2008 – the first SWAT officer to be killed in the line of duty.
Simmons, 51, of Rancho Palos Verdes, was fatally shot in the neck by a barricaded suspect who had already killed his own father and two brothers at a home in Winnetka.
Although Simmons and his family are no strangers to awards and medals – he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor last year – the Purple Heart was an especially significant honor not just for her husband, but for all officers, Lisa Simmons said.
“It’s also for the ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in terms of going out and making our streets safer and who were injured in the line of duty,” she said. “It’s a combination of the uniform that they wear and the blood that they have shed for the city of Los Angeles.
“Randy took an oath to protect and serve. And he fulfilled his oath, to the price where he not only lived to help the city but he died to protect it.”
Detective Tracey Angeles was among several who were able to accept their own awards. She was wounded in the 1997 North Hollywood shootout with two heavily armed bank robbers, yet still managed to help another officer who had been seriously injured.
“I completed my job because they did theirs,” said Angeles, who was among four to receive a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in the shootout. “It’s an honor for me, but I’m accepting (the medal) on behalf of all of them who were there that day.”
http://www.dailybreeze.com/crimeandcourts/ci_18904925?source=pkg
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