April 21, 2020
Los Angeles, California
I was going through some boxes from storage yesterday and came across a box of LAPD Retirement goodies. Hard to believe its been thirty-four years, but there you have it.
Back then, and I assume it continues through this day, most officers had a “retirement party” gathered for food and drink with their former partners and to say “goodbye.”
I was no exception and mine was held on August 1st, 1986. The Department artist usually prepared a “retirement poster” announcing the time and place.
First out of the storage box was that announcement:
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Retirement party held at Griffith Park Ranger’s Station August 1, 1986
A beautiful summer evening. Good food, dancing, old “war stories” shared and the usual goodbye gifts and plaques handed out. Here are a few of them:
The coolest of all of the retirement gifts was the traditional “Shadow Box” made up of the officer’s personal on-the-job gear. His or her handcuffs, handcuff keys, uniform buttons, nameplate, cap piece, call box key, whistle, dates of years of service, and in my case a prized “Detective Gold Card” which is only given to officers who had served a minimum of ten-years in the Detective Bureau. (I easily qualified after serving six-years in uniform patrol, I spent the next 17-years as a detective.)
LAPD Detective Gold Card
A Quick Contest
OK, here’s the deal for all you armchair detectives hip to all the details related to my Elizabeth Short, Black Dahlia Investigation, through the decades.
Somewhere above hidden in plain sight is a “clew” that synchronistically links directly to my investigation. The first one to find and identify it and emails me the answer (steve@stevehodel.com) wins the “Inspector Clouseau Award, and a free/personalized book of their choosing. (BDA I, II, III, Most Evil I or II, In The Mesquite, or The China Years.)
Good Hunting!
The post Synchronicity or Happenstance? A Quick Contest for All My “Black Dahlia Armchair Detectives” Out There-Winner Gets a Free Book of Their Choice appeared first on Steve Hodel.