Operation Progress Awareness Spotlights LAPD Officer Kristina Ripatti-Pearce in Bike Race

What:
News conference to provide an overview on crime stats and to bring awareness to the organization Operation Progress (OP).  This year the group is proud to be behind former LAPD Officer Kristina Ripatti-Pearce who was shot and paralyzed in the line of duty.  On June 12, Ripatti-Pearce will participate in the Race Across America (RAAM) bike race.  She will captain a four-member relay team and race on her hand cycle alongside three other able-bodied cyclists in a challenge to ride 3,000 miles across 14 states.

When:
May 12, 2010
4 p.m.

Where:
LAPD Southwest Community Police Station
1546 West Martin Luther King Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA  90062

Who:
LAPD Chief of Police Charlie Beck
LAPD Command Staff
Retired LAPD Officer Kristina Ripatti-Pearce
Shannell McMillan, Operation Progress Organization

Details:
OP is a nonprofit organization started by a group of LAPD Southeast Division officers who fight gang crime in the South Los Angeles area. The group is touched and motivated by inner city students who work hard to keep up their grades and stay out of gangs. The officers of OP look for kids who have survived in crime ridden neighborhoods and help them out through guidance, leadership skills and mentoring. The only thing holding them back from a post high school education is their lack of financial opportunity. OP is intended to assist deserving youths by raising scholarship money for them to achieve their educational goals despite their circumstances and environment.