AIRPORT POLICE OFFICERS PASS THE TORCH IN SPECIAL OLYMPICS RUN

(Los Angeles, California – July 10, 2007)  Eight Los Angeles Airport Police Officers  participated in the 2007 Southern California Law Enforcement Torch Run June 15 held to support the Special Olympics.

This years Southern California Law Enforcement Torch Run involved more than 3,500 officers from local, state and federal agencies who proudly carried the Special Olympics Torch over 1,500 miles and through more than 200 communities.  



  Officer’s James Bow, Tanansuk Chow, Daniel Quiros, Timothy Daniels, Sean Norwood, Kendra Williams and Sergeant’s Jesus Dominguez and Troy Takaki received the torch from the Federal Bureau of Investigation near LAX at the intersection of Pershing Boulevard and Imperial Highway.  Airport Police ran a total of 3.5 miles where the torch was handed off to runners from the Hawthorne Police Department at the intersection of Imperial Highway and La Cienega Boulevard.  Support for the runners was provided by Officer’s Jeff Shelton, Andre Coney,   Richard Blaha, Michael Krishna, Eduardo Angel, Mark Almaraz and Sergeant Imer Chavez.  Los Angeles Airport Police officers have participated in the Law Enforcement Torch Run since 2002.

In 1981, Chief Richard LaMunyon of the Wichita, Kansas Police Department conceived the Law Enforcement Torch Run as a way to involve his officers in the community by running a torch relay for their local Special Olympics.  The first Torch Run involved six officers.  Over 25 years later, the Torch Run has grown to include over 100 separate runs in over 35 countries. 

The Los Angeles Airport Police Division is the fourth largest law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County, with more than 1,100 law enforcement, security and staff personnel.  The Airport Police is a division of Los Angeles World Airports, the City department that owns and operates four airports in Southern California:  Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International, LA/Palmdale Regional and Van Nuys (general aviation).