Crime & Safety

Special Olympics Torch Run Winds Around Peninsula

Both the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department and the Lomita Sheriff's Station participated in the annual event.

Both the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lomita Station participated in this year's annual Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run's Los Angeles leg on Monday.

The Lomita Sheriff's Station received the torch from the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division and handed it off to the PVEPD on Palos Verdes Drive West.

Nine members of the PVEPD participated in the 3.5-mile run, according to a news release from Community Relations Officer Marcelle McCullough.

"Officers received the torch from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at approximately 10:18 a.m. and were joined at the finish line with a former Special Olympics athlete and local (Palos Verdes Estates) resident," McCullough wrote.

The Torch Run was created in 1981 by Wichita (KS) Police Department Chief Richard LaMunyon to get his officers involved in the local Special Olympics. Now, the Torch Run includes more than 125 runs in more than 45 countries, according to the Special Olympics.

In 2012, more than 125 law enforcement agencies raised a combined nearly $1.2 million in the Southern California Torch Run. Since its inception, more than 142,000 law enforcement officers have raised $414 million for the Special Olympics worldwide.


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