GREENFIELD — Officers from Greenfield Police Department were among multiple Monterey County agencies that participated in the Law Enforcement Special Olympics Torch Run on June 22.
This is the 25th year of the Law Enforcement Run, which preceded the June 24 opening ceremonies for the Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games at Santa Clara University.
In addition to Greenfield, other police departments from Salinas, Gonzales and Soledad also participated in the Torch Run in their respective cities.
“It’s to honor the athletes that are out there competing,” said Greenfield Police Sgt. Jorge Gutierrez about the purpose of the Law Enforcement Run.
The morning run started at Greenfield High School and went down the majority of El Camino Real to end at the police station. Students from Teresa Torres’ life skills class at Greenfield High School joined officers for the start of the run.
Five officers and staff from GPD participated in carrying the torch, along with one officer from Monterey County Probation Department.
Around them, on-duty personnel who were available helped with traffic control to ensure the participating officers, students and staff were able to run down the more than one-mile length of the journey. The entirety of the run took less than 20 minutes, and residents curious about the slow-moving police vehicles came out to watch even from blocks away.
Gutierrez said this was the first year GPD participated in the Torch Run since the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown, and that he didn’t have a total of how many years the department participated in prior. However, one shift he noted was practice for the event.
“Throughout the year there’s an expectation that the officers will maintain physical regimen,” Gutierrez said of the need for officer fitness. “These guys work out and run on their own.”
He noted that normally in past years they try to plan some runs together but hadn’t this year.
“It was really great to see the community come out to support us,” Gutierrez said.
