On behalf of our Board of Directors, we hope you enjoyed the 2019 LAPD Reserve Officer of the Year and Twice a Citizen gala at the Skirball Cultural Center. As always, this night is for you. We thank you and your families for your service and the many hours you have given to the city of Los Angeles.
Congratulations to the Department Reserve Officer of the Year, Steven J. Robinson.
This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Los Angeles Police Department. The Reserve Corps officially became a part of the Department in 1947, per the L.A. City Council. But as we continue to learn, there is a deep, long history of service by many who preceded us, going back to the first few decades of the 20th century. Our Reserve Corps continues to build on this legacy today.
As part of the legacy, Reserve Officer James Lombardi continues to build, in his 50th year with the Department, a lifetime of accomplishments, and we were pleased to present him with the Foundation’s Andrea Friedman Award.
We also honored our Twice a Citizen community leaders, which included David W. Fleming, who among being the creator/founding chair of the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed), has a long biography of service to the city of Los Angeles; and Nathan Fillion and Alexi Hawley of ABC’s The Rookie. The TV series covers a theme close to the heart of reserve officers who join the LAPD later in life as a “second career.”
Thank you, Chief of Police Michel Moore, our honorary chairperson, and Dinner Chair Tracy Hernandez for the evening. They were joined by our co-hosts Amy Aquino of the Amazon series Bosch and Daryl Evans of the L.A. Kings.
We are grateful for our supporters. Your donations are vital to the Foundation’s ongoing initiatives of serving those who serve, our Los Angeles reserve police officers. This past year, we have continued to focus on several key initiatives, including reserve recruitment, in-service training and equipment and, for the second year in a row, the legal defense plan, which reimburses our officers for insurance that provides them and their families added peace of mind. We once again thank the Los Angeles Police Protective League for offering this plan. And, for the third year in a row, we announced our scholarship winners.
We thank the command staff and the Reserve Unit team for their leadership of the reserve program, including, but certainly not limited to, Chief Moore, Assistant Chief Bea Girmala, Commander Gerald Woodyard, Captain Aaron Ponce, Lieutenant Curtis McIntyre, Sergeant Luis Alvardo and the entire Reserve Unit team. A special thanks as always to Officer Johnny Gil. The gala could not have happened without our event coordinator Scherr Lillico and the team at The Proper Image Events. Thank you to Kelley Nelson for being our auctioneer for the evening.
We thank you for your service and support. Be safe.