This is a special way to honor law enforcement and it is open to the public. This year’s Memorial Torch Relay Run honors the following officers: 

• Deputy Constable Charles A. De Moranville, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, died on January 4, 1909, when he was shot and killed as he attempted to arrest a man who had threatened a saloon owner in Newhall. The subject was arrested after murdering Deputy Constable De Moranville. De Moranville had served as a deputy constable in the Newhall district for two years. He was survived by his wife and four children.
• Chief Henry P. Tracy, Pomona Police Department, died on May 3, 1915. Chief Tracy was killed in a motorcycle accident while riding on the back of a motorcycle with another officer. The motorcycle was struck by a truck. He had just returned to service after recovering from a bullet wound received while chasing a suspect. Chief Tracey had only been chief for four years and had no prior law enforcement experience.
• Deputy Harry S. Guard, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, died on March 20, 1919, Deputy Guard was assigned as the Department chauffer in 1908. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department had taken possession of its first automobile the previous year. The Model T he was driving the day he and Deputy Benson were killed was open to the elements. It was a rainy afternoon and Deputy Guard’s view was obscured by the elements and the odd design of the elevated trolley crossing on Telegraph Road where the collision with the trolley occurred. Many witnesses who testified at the coroner’s inquest stated that the trolley motorman may not have sounded the warning bells until the last second and was likely traveling at a speed faster than that which was safe given the conditions. Deputy Guard was survived by his wife, mother and two sisters.
• Deputy Sheriff Emma Benson, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, died in the same accident on March 20, 1919. The two deputies, along with a third deputy, were returning to the jail after delivering a mental patient to a hospital in Norwalk when their Model T was struck. Deputy Benson was assigned to transporting female prisoners.

The memorial torch that the runners carry along the course will ultimately be used by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to light the ceremonial flame at 10AM on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at the Los Angeles County Peace Officers’ Memorial Wall at the STARS Center. The flame will be ignited in tribute to the fallen officers. The Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services Center (STARS Center) is located at 11515 S. Colima Rd, Whittier, CA 90604. The public is invited 

“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.” 
—Vivian Eney Cross, Survivor