Police and Thank You

About 500 Huntington Beach residents turned out Saturday for an annual celebration honoring the city’s Police Department, which has been the focus of criticism since the recent officer-involved shooting of an 18-year-old farm worker.

The May 5 shooting of Antonio Saldivar seemed far from the minds of most who attended Police Appreciation Day, a daylong celebration to honor slain police officers and showcase the department’s efforts.

“Our purpose is to have the community come and see what we do,” said Sgt. Janet Perez, a spokeswoman for the department. “We want them to know us as people and not just police officers in blue uniforms. The Police Department belongs to the people and we want them to know what goes on here.”

Among other things, participants in Saturday’s event were treated to tours of the police station, including its jail, crime lab and dispatch center.

A series of exhibits on the patio between the station and City Hall featured such items as a Police Department helicopter, K-9 units, and search-and-rescue and SWAT teams.

And during a ceremony honoring officers killed in the line of duty, members of a local Cub Scout pack solemnly placed flowers on a shrine.

“Despite our wishes,” police chaplain Steve Purdue told the crowd, “not every life can be saved.”

He was talking about the slain officers. But later, as Perez acknowledged, it was hard not to think as well about Saldivar, who was shot while fleeing in the early morning hours of May 5 after pointing what was later described as a toy rifle at a police pursuer.

“It’s a tragic event that’s difficult for people not to have on their minds,” Perez said Saturday.

The shooting, which is still under investigation, sparked a protest early last week. Although the incident was not a major topic of conversation Saturday, most who were asked said they had heard of it.

“It was very unfortunate,” said Charlie McGee, 47, adding that he’d brought his two sons--ages 10 and 2--to Police Appreciation Day to expose them to what police are about. But “no matter how good you are or how much you try to uphold your integrity,” he said of the shooting, “it’s possible for mistakes to be made.”

John Bauer, a former police officer, blamed the shooting on “too many replicas” of weapons on the market. “They should be taken off,” he said.

And Connie Templeton--whose husband, Bruce, sometimes volunteers as a police chaplain--expressed the hope that events like Saturday’s would make future accidental shootings less likely to occur.

“It helps relieve fear,” she said. “All of our hearts pound when we see those red lights. [Events like] this can teach kids early that when they see an officer, they don’t need to run.”