|
DEPARTMENT
INFORMATION
The following information was prepared by
Doug Hudson for departments who are planning on
participating in the services this year.
Preparations have begun in the
organization of the various activities associated with the
2011 Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial Service and Candlelight
Vigil. These services will be held in Austin, Texas starting
on Sunday, May 1, 2011 and completed on Monday, May 2, 2011.
The following information will be helpful in making plans
for your individual department to attend these activities.
Please be attentive to the dates and
times associated with the activities scheduled over the
two-day period.
2011
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL:
The Candlelight Vigil will be held at the
site of the Texas Peace Officers Memorial Monument on
Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. A Roll Call of Officers
will be conducted at the start of this service. The names
that will be read will come from the approved list provided
by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers
Standards and Education (TCLEOSE).
The “Roll Call of Officers” will be
conducted according to alphabetical order by department.
Assigned personnel will read the names of the deceased
officers. A list of phonetic spelling of the deceased
officer’s names will be conducted to eliminate any
mispronunciation errors.
After the “Roll Call of Officers” has
been completed, there will be a short program honoring those
officers who have paid the supreme sacrifice while in the
performance of their official duties. There will be a wreath
laying ceremony by uniformed law enforcement personnel.
If your department has a support group,
such as the Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS)
organization, please advise them or the individual survivor
family members from your department of the upcoming
ceremonies. With your assistance, we can notify as many
survivor family members as possible.
Please don't confuse the 2011 Candlelight
Vigil with the 2011 Texas State Peace Officers’ Memorial
Service that will be conducted on Monday, May 2, 2011.
Concerns of Police Survivors:
The Concerns of Police Survivors
organizations will have five chapters from the state of
Texas represented at the candlelight vigil. Any contact with
either of these chapters may be directed to the following
COPS personnel:
Mrs. Cathy Hill, Mountain Region Trustee
for National COPS, may be contacted at 19531 Creek Bend Dr,
Spring, Texas 77388. Her telephone is (Wk) 713-659-0005 x1
or cell 281-300-4131. Email address:
Cathy_Hill@nationalcops.org
Mrs. Juanita Garza, who is the President
for the South Texas COPS Chapter in the San Antonio area,
may be contacted at P.O. Box 791156, San Antonio, Texas
78279. Her telephone is 210-601-2529
Ms. Sherlynn Kelley, who is the President
of the Central Texas COPS Chapter in the Austin area, may be
contacted at P.O. Box 18241, Austin, Texas 78760. Her
telephone is 512-423-3462.
Mrs. Maria Alvarado, President of the
Metroplex Cops Chapter in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, may
be contacted at P.O. Box 701, Mansfield, Texas 76063. Her
telephone is 817-946-9806.
Ms. Cheryl Railsback, President of
Greater Houston COPS Chapter in the Houston area, may be
contacted at P.O. Box 73362, Houston, Texas 77273. Her
telephone is 832-257-1499. Email address:
cherylrailsback@yahoo.com
Ms. Shelly Page, President of the
Northeast Texas COPS Chapter, may be contacted at P.O. Box
5436, Texarkana, Texas 75505. Her telephone is 903-792-3018.
Additional Information:
The overall organization of the
Candlelight Vigil will be coordinated through Doug Hudson,
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard (Retired) or
Officer David Freytag, Houston Police Honor Guard. Doug
Hudson's contact information is listed at the bottom of this
page. Officer Freytag may be contacted at 713-681-9094.
Further changes, if applicable, will be
made available at a later date.
2011 TEXAS PEACE OFFICERS
MEMORIAL SERVICE:
The 2011 Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial
Service will be held on Monday, May 2, 2011 at the south
doors to the State Capitol Building at 11:00 a.m.
Pre-memorial service activities will begin at 10:00 a.m.
Please note:
Sgt. Larry Jaskolka and Sgt. Bruce
Johnson of the Houston Police Department Honor Guard will
serve as the OIC for the assembly of the Color Guards, Solo
Motorcycles, and Bicycle officers. They can be contacted at
the Congress Street and 1st Street assembly site to answer
any questions on the day of the Memorial Service.
The Color Guard teams will be aligned
according to the lottery system that has been used over the
past years. This seemed to be the fairest way to align the
Color Guard teams. There will be a meeting of the Color
Guard commanders or leaders at the Embassy Suite Hotel on
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. At this meeting the
drawings for placements in the processional will take place.
If you do not attend this meeting, your Color Guard team
will be aligned on a last come, last served basis, behind
the other Color Guard teams.
The Color Guard commanders or leaders
should prepare their teams to march for a distance of 17
blocks or approximately one and a half miles. There will be
the normal parade pace of a 120-count cadence. Make sure
that the teams are capable of making their turns without
coming to a “Mark Time” position. This causes the Color
Teams that are behind to bottle up and the front teams to
march away from the other teams creating large gaps in the
Color Guard Processional. We are expecting a large turn out
as we have had in the past. Staying in step with each other
is imperative.
The Color Guard teams will be aligned on
the Congress Street Bridge starting at 9:30 a.m., along with
the bicycle and solo motorcycle officers, and will proceed
to the Capitol Building where they will be aligned at a
pre-determined location at the south doors to the Capitol
Building.
Solo Motorcycles will be coordinated
through Sgt. Bruce Lutringer of the Austin Police
Department. The assembly of the solo motorcycle officers
will begin at 9:30 a.m. on the Congress Street Bridge at its
intersection with 1st Street. Once assembled the solo
motorcycle officers will follow the color guards in the
processional to a pre-determined location at the Capitol
Building where they will conclude their ride to a
pre-determined assembly location on Colorado Street,
adjacent to the Capitol.
Special Notation:
All Blue Knight representatives are
welcome to participate in this ceremony. Mr. D. J. Alvarez,
(retired Galveston P.D.) is currently the elected Vice
President of the International Organization of Blue Knights,
will serve as the liaison person for the Blue Knight
Representatives. His address is 2110 Shoal Lake Court,
League City, Texas 77573. His telephone is (cell)
281-642-8716. Email address:
dj@blueknights.org.
The same criteria will remain in effect
for these officers. Appropriate dress is required. All Blue
Knight representatives will ride solo, with approved helmets
being mandatory.
Mr. Alvarez will coordinate the
activities associated with the Blue Knight representatives
through Sgt. Bruce Lutringer (as listed above under Solo
Motorcycle), who is the liaison person for all officers
associated with the participation of any motorcycle group.
The Bicycle Patrol Officers alignment
will be coordinated through Officer Steve Bazany of the San
Antonio Police Department. Officer Bazany can be contacted
at the San Antonio Police Department, Foot and Bicycle
Patrol Division, 10 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. shift. His address is
240 East Houston, San Antonio, Texas. Telephone (0ffice)
210-207-7764 or cell # 210-389-4602. Officer Bazany is
responsible for the orderly alignment of the bicycle patrol
officers.
The bicycle patrol officers will meet at
Congress Street and 1st Street at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May
2, 2011 for alignment into the processional. The bicycle
patrol processional will align themselves behind the solo
motorcycle officers and follow behind them to the Capitol
Building, where they will assemble on Colorado Street behind
the solo motorcycle officers. The bicycle officers will
secure their bicycles on Colorado Street and proceed to the
memorial site for formation alignment. The Department of
Public Safety / Capitol Division will have officers
stationed on Colorado Street security purposes. Any
correspondence concerning the bicycle processional should be
directed to Officer Bazany, but the final decisions
concerning alignment, proper dress, and proper memorial
service protocol will come from the planning staff of the
Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial Service. This is a formal
ceremony and discretion should be used in selecting the
appropriate uniform for the day.
Please Note:
This is a formal ceremony and it is not
to be taken as a "rally” for the solo motorcycle and bicycle
officers.
The use of duty related motorcycles and
departmental approved bicycles would be one of the criteria
to participate in this ceremony. All officers will wear
their departmental uniform while participating in this
ceremony with an approved helmet.
The processional will proceed from the
Congress Street assembly area and will follow an established
route up Congress Street to the south entrance to the
Capitol complex. After the processional assumes their
assigned positions at the Capitol Building, the usual
memorial service format will take place.
Bagpipers:
Any officers who want to participate in
the Bagpiper Processional please contact Officer Todd
Bircher of the Austin Police Department at 512-974-5029 or
e-mail at
todd.bircher@ci.austin.tx.us
Roll Call Officers:
Officers that are coming to the memorial
service as a “Roll Call Officer” or as a “Stand-In Officer”,
please report to Sgt. Steve Bynum of the Texas Department of
Public Safety Honor Guard on Monday, May 2, 2011, no later
than 10:00 a.m. You will meet on the lower area to the left
of the podium. Sgt. Bynum will have a list to check in the
Roll Call Officers.
There will be no registration of the
“Roll Call Officers” or “Stand-In Officers” at the Sheraton
Hotel / Capitol.
If you are not in place at the Capitol
Building, as a “Roll Call Officer” or “Stand-In Officers”
another uniformed officer will replace you.
Please wear your department’s Class “A”
uniform. Those departments who do not have uniforms may
either wear a business suit or a sport coat and slacks with
a tie.
Hotel:
The Sherton Hotel / Capitol will serve as
the host hotel. The Sherton Hotel is located at the
intersection of Interstate 35 and 11th Street, Austin, Texas
78701. Telephone 512-487-1111. A block of rooms has been
reserved in the name of, code name of “CLEAT/Police
Memorial" It is necessary to use this code name to receive
the special room rate. Officers should make their room
reservations early. Room rates are $115.00 per night, for
either king size or double beds.
Follow this link for reservations!
All COPS family functions will be held at
the Sherton Hotel.
The over-flow hotel will be the LaQuinta
Hotel located at 11th Street and San Jacinto Street. Room
rates are $115.00 per night. Same rules apply.
As you can see there will be a lot of
activity on Sunday, May 1, 2011 and Monday, May 2, 2011. So
make your plans accordingly. Further plans may be issued, if
needed, at a later date.
The Planning Staff must authorize any
amendments to the above listed criteria concerning the
sequence of events, alignments, uniforms, etc.
If you have any questions regarding the
inormation mentioned above please feel free to contact:
Doug Hudson
Cell Phone at 832-758-1308.
You may also leave a message with the
Peace Officers Memorial Foundation Office in Austin, Texas
at 1-800-252-8153.
|
