Fallen California Officers Honored In Police Week Ceremonies

WASHINGTON, DC — The names of nearly 200 local, state and federal police officers and agents who died in the line of duty in 2017 will be read Tuesday in the 37th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service. They include eight police officers from California.

The ceremony in Washington, D.C., is part of a week full of activities for National Police Week, which began Sunday and continues through Saturday, May 19. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.

Tuesday’s two-hour commemoration begins at 11 a.m. near the west front of the U.S. Capitol. It includes both a wreath-laying ceremony and a memorial service.

The California police officers who were killed in the line of duty include:

• Officer Andrew Joseph Camilleri, Sr. of the Califronia Highway Patrol who died Dec. 24 from a vehicular assault
• Deputy Sheriff Robert Allan French of Sacramento County who died Aug. 30 from gunfire
• Deputy Sheriff Robert Paul Rumfelt of Lake County who died Aug. 22 from a heart attack
• Deputy Sheriff Jason Allen Garner of Stanislaus County who died May 13 from an automobile crash
• Deputy Sheriff Michael Robert Foley of Alameda County who died Feb. 23 from a vehicle
• Officer Lucas Forrest Chellew of the CHP who died Feb. 22 from a vehicle pursuit
• Officer Keith Wayne Boyer of Whittier who died Feb. 20 from gunfire
• Officer Gerardo Silva of Redwood City who died Jan. 20 from a heart attack

K9 Jax of Sunnyvale also died in the line of duty on Oct. 31 from a stabbing.

Between 25,000 and 40,000 people from police departments across the country and agencies around the world take part in National Police Week activities in Washington, D.C.

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