to the fact her cancer was discovered and treated quickly.
It was through Dorothy’s struggle I learned one in eight
women will be affected by breast cancer in their lifetime
and I learned the important role that regular and routine
breasts examinations played in combating this disease.
So earlier this month, on October 1st, the first day
of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I put on my stiff,
starchy wool Class “A” dress uniform at 6:30 a.m. and
proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder among my peers in
front of the police station for an early
morning photo shoot. The purpose of
the morning’s shoot was to debut the
bright sets of pink uniform patches
that each of us wore on the shoulders
of our uniforms in place of our
regular shoulder patches. The bright
pink patches, as well as bright pink
chevrons and service stripes, stood out
in stark contrast to the dark blue wool
of our uniforms.
Born from the tradition of wearing
a pink ribbon to denote one’s support
for breast cancer causes, the color pink
has become synonymous with the fight
against breast cancer and with raising
community awareness against the
disease.
However, the color pink, especially the bright pink
version adopted by the breast cancer movement, is not
one that is normally associated with police officers. All the
more reason then that the bright pink patches we wore
on our uniform shirts that October morning had a special
meaning.
What lead to our officers wearing the pink patches was
truly a grassroots effort. Late last year, the Irwindale Police
Department embarked on a campaign to not only raise
money for breast cancer research, but to use our position
in the community to help educate the public about the lifesaving benefits of early detection and treatment.
This effort was born from a conversation between
Irwindale’s Police Chief Anthony Miranda and Police
Records Clerk Norma Ortiz about the fact that three of
our employees had lost their mothers to breast cancer
during 2012, an exorbitantly high number considering
we are a department of only 27 sworn
officers and 10 professional staff.
In the past, Irwindale PD and
other agencies in our area, , had worn
pink ribbons, pink rubber bracelets or
pink pins with their uniforms. Though
these efforts are admirable and should
be recognized, Chief Miranda really
believed we could be doing more.
Recognizing that the Seal Beach PD
started the movement last year, with
the original purpose being to stimulate
conversation with the community
about the risks of breast cancer, the
importance of early detection and
treatment, and to increase support
for breast cancer research. We knew
we wanted to take our project a step further by using
our pink patch project to not only encourage community
engagement, but to also raise money for breast cancer
research. With that, we began our partnership with City
of Hope, a world-renowned cancer treatment and research
hospital located in nearby Duarte.
The idea of the #PinkPatchProject quickly gained
steam and the Irwindale Police Officers Association
(IPOA) came onboard. Even though wearing the pink
Irwindale PD’s
#PinkPatchProject
has raised over
$10,000 for cancer
research
WINTER 2015 | California Police Chief
19