Palm Springs honors local police & firefighters at appreciation luncheon
Palm Springs paid tribute today to its police officers and firefighters at the seventh annual Palm Springs Police and Fire Appreciation Luncheon.
The program drew nearly 400 attendees who learned about the 2017 achievements of the Palm Springs Police and Fire departments and heard updates from Police Chief Bryan Reyes and Fire Chief Kevin Nalder.
The 11:30 a.m. event at the Palm Springs Convention Center was emceed by journalist Hank Plante, and included the presentation of several public safety recognition awards.
Among them was the Richard M. Milanovich Community Leadership Award, which was presented to Frank Ercoli and Oscar Paz-Altschul, trauma surgeons at the G.A. Richards Emergency-Trauma Center at Desert Regional Medical Center.
Officer Alan Donavan was awarded the Chief’s Award of Distinction and was also among seven officers awarded Medals of Merit for their efforts in solving five homicide investigations last year, along with Officer Don Bernstead, Detectives Steve Grissom, Chris Jaeger, Mario Kasal and Barron Lane and Officer Troy Lawrence.
Life Saving Medals were awarded to Sgt. Mike Casavan and Officers Jennifer Calleros, Luciano Colantuano, Edman Escallada, Jason Lamb and Max Reynoso.
City Manager David Ready said the event is held to “celebrate our heroic and hard-working public safety officers.”
“It is important that we pay tribute and express our deepest gratitude to these outstanding men and women, who each and every day put their lives on the line to protect and defend us,” he said.
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Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
