Full Notification

Last night at the Petaluma City Council Meeting, Mayor Teresa Barrett proclaimed May 12-18, 2019 as National Police Week and May 15, 2019 as Peace Officer Memorial Day.  Numerous officers attended the proclamation reading and watched as fellow officers were further recognized for outstanding performance. 
 
Detective Patrick Gerke was presented with a distinguished service medal for being selected as the 2018 Petaluma Police Officer Of The Year and Sonoma County Law Enforcement Of The Year.   Senior Officer Ed Esponda was presented with the Vilho Ahola Memorial Award after being selected as the most inspirational employee of 2018.    Officer Joel Auerbach was presented with a distinguished service medal based on his life saving actions during an incident where he located a subject experiencing a medical emergency.
 
The Petaluma Police Department and the City of Petaluma invites our community to join us in paying tribute to our men and women of law enforcement during the 2019 National Police Week from May 12, 2019 to May 18, 2019.
 
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which that date falls as National Police Week. Every year since, our country has taken part in a national salute to honor and remember law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, and to pay respect to those who dedicate their lives each day to serve our community.
 
This year, the names of 371 officers killed in the line of duty have been added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. These 371 officers include 158 officers who were killed during 2019, plus 213 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.
 
Here at the Petaluma Police Department we remember our fallen officers and the fallen family members of our staff. To honor these fallen officers our staff will be displaying their black mourning bands over their badges on May 15, 2019.

City Marshal Julius Blume
EOW December 28, 1887
Accident

Officer Bert Johnson
EOW February 2, 1925
Accident

Constable Rusmus L. Rasmussen
EOW April 20, 1927
Gunfire

Officer Vilho O. Ahola 
EOW February 1, 1998
Gunfire (1969)



For more information about National Police Week, please visit http://www.policeweek.org/ or http://www.nleomf.org/