We hope you enjoyed the Reserve Officer of the Year and Twice a Citizen banquet held at the renowned Skirball Cultural Center on May 12. On behalf of our Board of Directors, we thank you and your families for your service and the hours given to the city of Los Angeles.
Congratulations to Reserve Officer Kenji Inaba (Rampart Area) for being honored as the Department Reserve Officer of the Year. The Andrea Friedman Award was presented to Robert Glucroft, retired reserve officer and secretary of the LAPRF.
We were thrilled to welcome Twice a Citizen honorees Michael Connelly, award-winning author and executive producer of Bosch, and Titus Welliver, star of Bosch, now in its fourth season. The Harry Bosch character carries on the police procedural tradition in the City of Angels, with a hard-boiled passion “to protect and to serve.” It continues the tradition of inspiring many to follow a path into law enforcement, in Los Angeles and throughout the nation.
We thank Chief of Police Charlie Beck for serving as honorary chairman of the banquet one last time before his retirement. We were honored to present him with his old reserve officer badge, encased in Lucite. His support of the reserve program over the years has been invaluable. He was joined by Honorary Dinner Chairman Terrill Lee Lankford. We also thank Bill Ahmanson for taking the reins as master of ceremonies at the last minute; he co-hosted alongside Kiki Haynes. Reserve Officer Darla Cozzarelli closed the evening with a great rendition of “America the Beautiful.”
We thank all of our supporters who helped make this banquet one of our most successful ever! Your donations are vital to the Foundation’s ongoing initiatives of supporting our LAPD reserve police officers. This past year, our Board has focused on three initiatives in addition to equipment, training and financial hardship assistance. Perhaps you have seen the billboards featuring Dr. Shaquille O’Neal that are part of our reserve recruitment initiative. We established the legal defense plan initiative, reimbursing our officers for an insurance option that gives them and their families added peace of mind. Thank-you, Los Angeles Police Protective League, for offering this plan. Finally, we awarded our 2018 scholarship under our scholarship initiative, to Reserve Officer Karina Ardon, a young reserve officer who has shown the drive to succeed and to serve her community, an example of what the Reserve Corps is all about.
LAPD Command Staff and the team at ROVU, including Lieutenant Curtis McIntyre and Sergeant James Gaffney, thank-you. A special thanks to Officer Johnny Gil, who has moved on to another assignment after several years of invaluable service. The banquet could not have happened without event coordinator Scherr Lillico and her team at The Proper Image Events. We thank LAPRF Vice President Mark Deitch and his team at 911MEDIA for an excellent job on the banquet journal, and we also thank the team for its continued excellence in publishing The Rotator. Kelley Nelson was again our lively auctioneer for the evening, and the Vintage L.A. Coppers were on hand with their fantastic vintage uniforms and vehicles, reminding us all of the legacy and history of the Department and the Corps.
At the time of this writing, Assistant Chief Michel Moore was named the next chief of police. We congratulate Chief Moore and look forward to working with him to continue our initiatives to support the men and women of our LAPD Reserve Corps — the gold standard of reserve law enforcement in the United States.
Thank you for your service and support. Be safe.