Local Law Enforcement Agencies Honor Fallen Comrades

Local law enforcement agencies are honoring those slain in the line of duty this week, whether by lowering their flags to half-staff on Wednesday or holding a memorial torch relay.

Wednesday was Peace Officers' Memorial Day, and in honor of the day, President Barack Obama declared that flags be flown at half-staff.

"Nowhere does (this proclamation) hit closer to home than remembering those lost that served in our own city," wrote Palos Verdes Estates Police Department community relations Officer Marcelle McCullough in an email to reporters.

Sgt. V. Thomas Vanderpool and Capt. Michael Wayne Tracy of the PVEPD were killed Feb. 14, 1994 when a masked gunman burst into a city management seminar they were attending at the Torrance Holiday Inn and shot them, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Vanderpool had been a member of the PVEPD since 1981; Tracy, who was presented with the South Bay Medal of Valor Award in both 1974 and 1975, had been a member since 1969.

In addition to lowering its flags to half-staff on Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department—including the Lomita Station—will participate in the three-day Law Enforcement Memorial Torch Run this weekend.

The relay, which began Friday at Sherman Block Sheriff's Headquarters, will finish at the Altandena Sheriff's Station on Sunday at about 2 p.m.

Lomita deputies, family members and friends will receive the torch from Carson station personnel at about 2 a.m. Saturday at the Lomita Station. They will hand the torch off to the Compton Station about an hour later near the intersection of 190th Street and Normandie Avenue.