President Kennedy declared May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day in 1962, designating the entire calendar week in which it falls as National Police Week. At the State level, the California Peace Officers' Memorial ceremonies take place during the first week of May. These ceremonies occur at the California Peace Officers' Memorial Monument located on the State Capitol grounds in Sacramento. The purpose of the ceremonies is to officially recognize and remember peace officers who lost their lives in the line of duty during the previous year, to pay tribute to the more than 1,500 officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice since California's inception as a state, while honoring the families they left behind.
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AFSCME Local 685 Field Vice President Dwight Thompson represented Local 685 at the 2023 National and California Peace Officers' Memorial ceremony, accompanying the LA County Probation Honor Guard to both the ceremony in Washington D.C. and Sacramento. The Honor Guard served as guards over the monument and as the night watch unit. VP Thompson participated in the laying of the wreath that was provided by Local 685.
The ceremonies are a two-day event, beginning with a Candlelight Vigil. At dusk, families, friends, community members, and colleagues walk in solidarity to the memorial monument to remember and celebrate their fallen heroes. DSO Michael Wall was honored at both the national and California ceremonies with his brother representing him at both events.
Local 685 has a long history of involvement with these memorial events, and as the LA County Probation Department inherits the SYTF youth from DJJ, we will become the keepers of the memory of Youth Counselor Ineasie Maxi Baker, who was murdered at the Herman G. Stark Institution in Chino in 1996 by a 24-year-old inmate.
Source: CCPOA Facebook page
The assault took place in a supply room. After stabbing Baker to death and stealing her car keys, the stuffed her body into a trash can. He took it out past prison security and emptied it into a dumpster, all undetected. Her body was found two days later in a Pomona Landfill.
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