RBPD to Participate in Torch Run

The Redondo Beach Police Department will participate in this year's annual Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run's Los Angeles leg on Monday.

Redondo police will be in the sixth group to carry the torch in Los Angeles County when they take it from the Torrance Police Department near the intersection of Palos Verdes and Sepulveda boulevards shortly after 12:30 p.m., according to a schedule posted online.

Officers will hand the torch off to members of the Hermosa Beach Police Department at the intersection of Harbor Drive and Herondo Street at about 1 p.m.

Traffic will likely be impacted along the route, which runs west on Sepulveda Boulevard as it transitions to northbound Camino Real, west on Torrance Boulevard, north on Catalina Avenue, west on Beryl Street and north on Harbor Drive.

The Torch Run was created in 1981 by Wichita (KS) Police Department Chief Richard LaMunyon to get his officers involved in the local Special Olympics. Now, the Torch Run includes more than 125 runs in more than 45 countries, according to the Special Olympics.

In 2012, more than 125 law-enforcement agencies raised a combined nearly $1.2 million in the Southern California Torch Run.