The
Santa Cruz Police Department recognizes the change in venue for the Memorial
Service honoring Sergeant Butch Baker and Officer Elizabeth Butler has created
challenges for some members of the community.
To help mitigate this, we have developed alternative viewing
opportunities and transportation options:
Live
feed of the service:
Kaiser
Permanente Arena (Home of the Santa Cruz Warriors)
140
Front Street
Memorial
Service starts at 12:00 Noon.
Doors
open time to be announced
There
will be no tickets and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
In
addition, Community TV and local television networks have said they will carry
the procession and service on their stations. KSBW has indicated they will
stream the service live on their Website.
The
second local viewing opportunity will be of the memorial procession to the HP
Pavilion, by Santa Cruz County agencies that include criminal justice agencies,
fire and EMS. The procession is
scheduled to depart at 8:45 AM and travel up Ocean Street from the beach area,
onto Highway 17. The procession will
travel over Highway 17 and may be joined by other agencies in Santa Clara
County.
Limited
transportation will be provided by the City of Santa Cruz via Metro buses to
the HP Pavilion. Transportation will be
offered for those who want to attend but could not otherwise transport themselves. Further details will follow on how to access
this transportation option.
We
are also calling on and encouraging service organizations, neighborhood groups
and our faith community to organize carpooling of their memberships.
While
the change in venue poses challenges, it provides benefits that far outweigh
the difficulties. The Baker and Butler
families issued a statement saying, “We are extremely pleased we were able to
locate a venue that would allow all supporters to have an opportunity to honor
these officers together under one roof”
“We
are humbled by the number of people that want to come together and honor our
fallen heroes” Police Chief Kevin Vogel said. “We all wish we had the local
capacity to serve the thousands of people throughout the country that have said
they want to attend. This simply wasn’t possible, so we’re asking that people
either commit to driving less than a mile for every year that Butch and
Elizabeth served our community and join us at the HP Pavilion or participate in
the simulcast at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. These past few days have been
very difficult and organizing a memorial that honors Butch and Elizabeth and
accommodates the large-scale interest has been challenging. But we are pleased
to offer a local option as well.”
Please
note that the local viewing at the Arena and the memorial procession will cause
some traffic delays. Our department will provide additional traffic impact
information in the coming days.
