Please come join us for a brief public ceremony honoring our three officers who have fallen in the line of duty. It will be on Wednesday, May 15, at 9:00 a.m. at Memorial Grove in Cogswell Plaza.
Memorial Grove was dedicated in 2014, and is a stand of three massive Coast Redwood trees in honor of Reserve Officer Lester Cole, Officer Gene Clifton, and Reserve Officer Theodore Brassinga.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which that date falls as National Police Week, a time to honor those law enforcement officers who have fallen in the line of duty. This year, National Police Week begins on May 12, and it runs through Saturday, May 18.
In addition to May 15 being National Peace Officers Memorial Day, it is also the 25th anniversary of the tragic death of Officer Brassinga.
Officer Brassinga was accidentally shot and killed on May 15, 1994, during a multi-agency police training exercise aboard an Amtrak train for the 1994 World Cup Soccer tournament. The officers in the exercise were supposed to have unloaded weapons. Officer Brassinga was survived by his wife and young son, both of whom still keep in close touch with their PAPD family.
For more information about National Police Week, visit http://www.nleomf.org/programs/policeweek/. You may also be interested in searching the hashtags #PoliceWeek and #NationalPoliceWeek on your favorite social media platforms.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Chief Robert Jonsen will be speaking, and the PAPD Honor Guard will be in attendance. For more information about our three fallen officers, visit http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/…/dep…/pol/fallen_officers.asp.
Cogswell Plaza is located in the 200 block of Lytton Avenue, between Bryant Street and Ramona Street. We hope to see you there!
