Southeast Personnel Display True Meaning of Christmas

On Dec 24, 2006, a burglary occurred on the 2000 block of East 114th Street, Los Angeles.  The crime was reported on December 25th to Southeast Area patrol officers. 

Police Officers Samuel Arnold and Kenneth Sanchez, and Sergeant Tamara Baumann responded to the location to conduct a burglary investigation.  The officers discovered that Christmas gifts for the Ortiz family had been taken.  The Ortiz family includes four children ranging between three to nine  years of age.

On December 26th, Officer Arnold and Officer Sanchez collected $140.00 from Southeast Area supervisors, officers, and detectives.  The officers went to Super K-Mart and purchased toys for the children.  K-Mart assisted by providing a 25% discount. 

The officers, in the spirit of goodwill, happily delivered the toys to the Ortiz residence.  The Ortiz children were ecstatic and very greatful.  This is just one example of the fine police work done by Southeast and LAPD personnel on a daily basis.

Sergeant David Kowalski
Assistant Watch Commander
Southeast Area

Comments

[Monica]

Thank you for sharing. Its unfortunate that many of these nice stories aren't reported in the media. I know the officers don't do it for media attention however, it puts a balance of the negativity from the media. I know of many divisions that help low income families during Thanksgiving and Xmas and many officers give from their own pockets. Happy New Year and thank you LAPD!

[LA Fashion District]

“The crime was reported on December 25th to Southeast Area patrol officers.”

So some thug burglarized a home on Christmas Eve and stole all the presents --- haven’t we all heard this Dr. Seuss fable before??

As I pondered this article by Sergeant Kowalski, one soon realizes the sacrifices afforded us by the men and women who immerse themselves in careers as public servants. Qualify it as an educated guess, but I'd say police officers also have families and celebrate the holidays --- yes, no? How easy it would have been for those two officers to take an innocuous burglary report --- I am sure it wasn’t the first burglary ever reported in Southeast Area --- get back on the air, and haphazardly finish their tour.

Nope, Officers Arnold and Sanchez with Sergeant Baumann, working Christmas day, weren’t about to let four kids go without presents. What an outstanding job it was of these two LAPD officers and sergeant to consider the plight of the Ortiz family and then proactively do something about it! As a member of the Downtown Los Angeles business community, I like to commend the men and women of Southeast Area for their compassion and generosity for helping the Ortiz family in their obvious time of need.

As for the Grinch (who thought he could steal Christmas), let’s all hope the Southeast Detectives now show the same enthusiasm and wherewithal in identifying and convicting this %#&-hole.

Happy Holidays LAPD

RT

[Francisca Mata]

I guess I'm not surprised that this weblog's last comment was in 2006. I write mostly because I'm fet up with the prostitution in my neighborhood (southeast area) 100's/Figueroa. Issues that need to be addressed at the governmental level: the law that requires a police officer to observe illegal activity for 15-20 minutes before making an arrest. Other issues, why are prostitutes coming here to South Central? What is it that is not being done here that is being done in Westchester, in Beverly Hills, etc.? Not enough officers? Funding? Citizen involvement? I'm concerned...I remember reading a while back an article in the LA Times about the unemployment rate and there was a ridiculous fraction of a percent increase since the riots. Is it the lack of employment? How is that possible? What is going on? What can I/we do as citizens to change this?

I really hope this starts a dialogue....

ichnap