{"id":246873,"date":"2010-01-29T12:24:58","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T17:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a9f9970b"},"modified":"2010-01-29T12:25:44","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T17:25:44","slug":"remembering-a-fallen-lapd-officer-renaming-of-west-valley-park-in-honor-of-officer-randal-d-simmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/246873","title":{"rendered":"REMEMBERING A FALLEN LAPD OFFICER Renaming of West Valley Park in honor of Officer Randal D. Simmons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2013 The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks in partnership with Councilmember Dennis Zine renamed West Valley Park as &quot;LAPD Swat Officer Randal D. Simmons Park&quot; in memory of the fallen LAPD SWAT officer on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a91f970b-pi\" style=\"FLOAT: right\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RandalSimmonsPark-20_1\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a91f970b \" src=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a91f970b-120wi\" style=\"MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px\"><\/img><\/a> The ceremony included the unveiling of the new park sign as well as remarks by Jon Kirk Mukri, Department of Recreation and Parks General Manager, Councilmember Dennis Zine, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Assistant Chief Michael Moore, Deputy Chief Kirk Alanbese and Captain John Incontro.\u00a0 Mrs. Lisa Simons also spoke at the ceremony.\u00a0 More than 50 officers from the LAPD Metro Division formed a \u2018blue line\u2019 and four mounted patrol officers also attended.\u00a0 City Controller Wendy Greuel and\u00a0 Councilman Tom LaBonge (CD4) were also present.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef01287729cfab970c-pi\" style=\"FLOAT: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RandalSimmonsPark-102_3\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c5fcf53ef01287729cfab970c \" src=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef01287729cfab970c-120wi\" style=\"MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px\"><\/img><\/a> Officer Randal D. Simmons, a 27-year veteran of the LAPD, was shot during a standoff that injured another officer and claimed the lives of five civilians on Thursday, February 7, 2008. Officer Simmons is the first SWAT officer to die in the line of duty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Officer Simmons committed much of his time to helping and comforting people in urban neighborhoods including Watts, Hacienda Village, Compton and Carson. He was an ordained minister at Glory Christian Fellowship International in Carson, California. He was instrumental in developing programs and Christian events for at-risk youth such as the annual &quot;Greatest Toy Giveaway\u201d which provided toys and gifts to over 1,000 children during the holiday season. He is survived by his wife Lisa, son Matthew and daughter Gabrielle. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a9e4970b-pi\" style=\"FLOAT: right\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RandalSimmonsPark-141_1\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a9e4970b \" src=\"http:\/\/lapdblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c5fcf53ef0120a826a9e4970b-120wi\" style=\"MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px\"><\/img><\/a> &quot;LAPD Officer Randal D. Simmons Park&quot; will serve as a tribute to his personal sacrifice and his dedication to the community. West Valley Park is located at 6731 Wilbur Avenue in the Reseda community. The 8.38 acre park includes children\u2019s play area, walking paths, picnic tables and landscaping.\u00a0 <br \/><\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2013 The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks in partnership with Councilmember Dennis Zine renamed West Valley Park as &quot;LAPD Swat Officer Randal D. Simmons Park&quot; in memory of the fallen LAPD SWAT officer on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. The ceremony included the unveiling of the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}