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The men and women of the Santa Barbara Police Department join others across the nation in honoring fallen officers and their families during National Police Week. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which it falls as Police Week. This tradition has endured and President Barack Obama’s 2016 proclamation can be read here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/13/presidential-proclamation-peace-officers-memorial-day-and-police-week. In the United States in 2015 128 peace officers died in the line of duty, and thus far in 2016 35 have made the ultimate sacrifice.

In its 116-year history the Santa Barbara Police Department has had five officers die in the line of duty protecting our community; H. Thomas Guerry, Henry Evans, Clarence Jensen, Ronald Wainscott, and Richard Williams. This week we remember them and their service to Santa Barbara.

A project is currently underway to create a bronze memorial statue to honor our fallen officers. To see their photos, to learn about them, and to contribute please see the GoFundMe page created for this effort: https://www.gofundme.com/sbpdmemorial.