Full Notification

On Tuesday June 25, 2013, 70 members from the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and 13 youth from the Oakland Police Activities League (PAL) will participate in a nine-mile portion of the Northern California Law Enforcement Torch Run, benefiting Special Olympics Northern California. As of June 24, the OPD team has raised $9,620, bringing them close to their goal.

The Torch Run is a year-round fundraising campaign that culminates every June at the Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games. This is the 25th year that members of OPD have been involved with this great charity. This year, OPD is the number one law enforcement fund-raising agency in Northern California, raising the most money and fielding the most runners. In second place is the San Jose Police Department, with 24 runners and $7,332 raised.

For the first time this year the OPD team of runners includes youth from Oakland PAL.

Media Welcome

Runners will be suited up and ready to go at 8:15 AM at the Police Administration Building, 455 – 7th Street, Oakland, CA (corner of 7th Street and Broadway). The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, running the torch up from Alameda, will pass it off to OPD by 8:45. The Oakland portion of the run is listed below:

Leg-1 – Chief Sean Whent will start the run from the PAB and will pass the torch at 17th Street and Telegraph Avenue to Deputy Chief Eric Breshears.
Leg-2 – DC Breshears will run from 17th Street to 27th Street and hand the torch to his son, Scott Breshears.
Leg-3 – Scott Breshears run from 27th Street to 34th Street and hand the torch to Manager Kristin Burgess-Medieros.
Leg-4 – Ms. Burgess-Medieros will run from 34th Street to 40th Street, where she will pass the torch to Deputy Chief David Downing.
Leg-5 – DC Downing will run from 40th Street to Adeline Street, where he will hand the torch off to Sergeant Michael Beaver. Sergeant Beaver will pass the torch on to a team of long distance runners, who will be running the entire nine miles. They will be passing the torch to each another as they run to the Berkeley/Albany border, where the torch will be passed to runners from the Albany Police Department.

Donations are welcome even while the race is being run. To donate, go to the website: www.torchrunsonc.com, then click on the Oakland PD link to the right. Even a few dollars make a huge different to the Special Olympics athletes. Donate to the team or an individual runner as it all goes to the athletes.

For more information, please contact Lt. Randell Wingate, Area 4 Resource Commander, at [email protected], (510) 777-8625, or the Media Relations Office at (510) 238-7230, [email protected]. Visit Nixle.com to receive Oakland Police Department alerts, advisories and community messages, or follow OPD on Twitter, @oaklandpoliceca.

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