LA Airport Police officers to carry the “Flame of Hope” for the 11th year to raise funds for Special Olympics

Los Angeles, California, 2013-06-05 — /travelprnews.com/ — Los Angeles Airport Police officers will participate on June 7 in the 2013 Southern California Law Enforcement Torch Run® to promote and raise funds for the Special Olympics. This will be the eleventh year Airport Police Officers to carry the “Flame of Hope.”

The Law Enforcement Torch Run includes more than 2,000 officers from local, county, state, federal and military agencies, along with Special Olympics athletes who will carry the flame to the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics at California University, Long Beach State on June 8. The torch run began May 28 and will cover more than 1,500 miles in more than 200 communities. The southern leg began in San Diego and travels through Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties before entering Los Angeles County.

Runners from the Federal Bureau of Investigation will pass the torch to Airport Police at the intersection of Pershing Drive and Imperial Highway on the southwest corner of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on June 7. Airport Police participants will be comprised of Emergency Service Unit officers and other Airport Police officers who will be led by Lieutenant Robert Rios. The group will run approximately 3.5 miles along eastbound Imperial Highway to the intersection of La Cienega Boulevard, where the torch will be passed to members of the Hawthorne Police Department.

Airport Police Chief Patrick Gannon, who will be present for the hand-off of the torch to Airport Police, said, “I wish everyone the best as they run for God’s special people”.

There are three main legs (North, Central, and South) that will join together on June 8 in Long Beach for the 2013 Summer Games. There, the three torches will be “unified” into a single flame that will light the opening ceremony cauldron.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run was created in 1981 by Chief Richard LaMunyon of the Wichita (Kansas) Police Department as a way to involve his officers in the community by supporting their local Special Olympics organization.

Now, more than 30 years later, the event includes more than 125 separate runs in more than 48 nations. Since the event’s inception, more than 90 law enforcement agencies nationwide have raised more than $414 million to support community-based sports programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

The Los Angeles Airport Police Division is the nation’s premier aviation law enforcement agency with more than 1,100 specially trained police officers, security officers, and civilian staff protecting Los Angeles International, Ontario International, and Van Nuys airports

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