Among those fallen officer to be honored this year, is San Francisco Police Officer Bryan Tuvera, who was tragically shot on December 22, 2006 by a felon who escaped from a fire camp. Before escaping from the camp, the man responsible for Bryan’s death was serving a six year prison sentence for second-degree robbery and was a repeat offender with prior convictions for grand theft, receiving stolen goods, and being a felon with a gun. Every year about a dozen inmates escape from the fire camps they are assigned.

 At the time of the shooting, Bryan was an officer at Taravel station and had just recently married his wife Salina.  Earlier this year, I introduced legislation, AB 439—The Bryan Tuvera Fire Camp Safety Act, to require prisoners who serve on fire crews to wear electronic tracking devices. 

AB 439, which is sponsored by the San Francisco Police Officers Association, passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee with a unanimous vote.  During the hearing, Bryan’s mother Sandy Tuvera provided the committee with emotional testimony in support of the bill and on the need for us to never forget the sacrifice that Bryan gave.  She also spoke eloquently on the need for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reevaluate the types of inmates we are sending to these camps.  The bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee where a vote is expected sometime this month.   

Far too many brave men and women like Bryan, who chose law enforcement as a career, have paid the ultimate price. It is critically important that those of us who are left behind recognize that they did not die in vain.  That is why we also revisit their memories each year on this particular day and reflect on their courage and sacrifice and make sure that their tragic loss will not be forgotten.

Ceremonies honoring California’s slain peace officers have been held at the State Capitol since 1977.  The site of this year’s ceremony is the Peace Officers’ Memorial monument located at the State Library Building at 10th Street and Capitol Mall.  The monument is the result of 1985 legislation, Senate Bill 329, which called for the appointment of a nine-member commission that would be responsible for constructing an appropriate memorial on the grounds of the State Capitol dedicated to California peace officers killed in the line of duty.  The responsibility of raising funds to pay for the memorial was also given to the commission.

The memorial represents the evolution of California law enforcement.  It is composed of statues depicting an 1880’s sheriff, a 1930’s motorcycle officer, and a contemporary peace officer looking down on a grieving woman on a bench trying to comfort a distraught child.  On the bench next to the woman is an American flag folded into a triangle.  Inscribed on the front of the monument are the words “. . . in the line of duty.”

When he dedicated the memorial, then-Governor George Deukmejian said, “The job of a peace officer is perhaps the most difficult and challenging of all in our society.  We are very thankful to those who are willing to risk injury and even death in order to provide greater protection and safety for all of us.”

This year, on May 3rd, we will remember Bryan and the 9 other brave officers who died in the line of duty in 2006.  More importantly, we will carry the memory of their ultimate sacrifice with us throughout the year.