CHELAN — The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has won a Circle of Honor award for Special Olympics law enforcement fundraising efforts that involved several agencies on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Law enforcement agencies across the Peninsula raised more than $5,000 for Special Olympics, said Ron Cameron, chief criminal deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, an organizer for Special Olympics fundraising.
The award was given recently at the semiannual Washington Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Association Conference in Chelan.
During the conference, the organization that facilitates the Special Olympics of Washington program recognized law enforcement agencies throughout the state that have contributed to the program this year.
Although the Sheriff’s Office received the award, the program included participants from the Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend police departments; the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; the Coast Guard; State Patrol; the Department of Corrections; U.S. Border Patrol; and the National Park Service.
Events included the torch run — where area officers carried the torch from Laird’s Corner in Port Angeles to the Kitsap County side of the Hood Canal Bridge in one day — a pancake breakfast and the Sequim Applebee’s Tip A Cop, where proceeds were given to the program.
At the Tip A Cop event in September, officers raised $2,504, the second highest amount at an Applebee’s for Special Olympics in the state, Cameron said.
Lakewood Police Department raised more money, he said, though he didn’t know the exact amount.
About five other Circle of Honor awards were presented, Cameron said, and bronze, silver and gold medals were given to agencies — such as the Kennewick Police Department, which raised more than $50,000 — who raised high amounts.
The plaque received by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office will be displayed in the lobby at the Clallam County Courthouse.
