It seemed a fitting tribute for the Buena Park police officer who was killed in the line of duty: rename a city street for him. And what better street than the one that serves the police station and the new City Hall?
It doesn't make sense, though, to some who live on the street. Residents have complained that the name change will lead to confusion and the inconvenience of changing everything with an address, from mailing labels to driver's licenses.
At issue is choosing how best to honor the memory of fallen officers -- renaming streets, planting trees, erecting statues or engraving plaques -- without irritating others affected by the decision.
In Buena Park, the plan is to rename Court Street as Pinchot Court for Tyler Pinchot, a 23-year veteran who was killed in June after being hit from behind on his motorcycle during a traffic stop. Pinchot was an extraordinary officer who more than deserves the honor, said Police Chief Gary Hicken. In addition to his police work, Pinchot volunteered countless hours to groups and causes in the city.
"It's not just about Tyler," Hicken said, "it's not just about Buena Park. It's about a person's life and the sacrifice that was given."
Councilman Don McKay, a retired Buena Park police officer who proposed the name change, noted that another street is named for the only other Buena Park police officer killed on the job, Darrell "Bud" Cate, who was shot in 1971 when he and another investigator tried to question a suspect about a sexual assault.
The one-block street is on the fringe of the city in a neighborhood of warehouses. "No one in town really knows it's there," McKay said. "It's certainly no fitting tribute to a guy killed ... looking for a rape suspect."
A third officer killed in Buena Park was a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, who was off-duty with his fiancee, also a deputy, in a hair salon in 1997. Two armed men robbed the patrons, saw Shayne York's badge in his wallet, ordered him face-down on the floor and then shot him in the back of the head.
Pinchot, the chief said, was the first officer on the scene and held the dying deputy in his arms. York's name was included on the Sheriff's Department's imposing memorial wall at its training academy in Whittier.
The two suspects were arrested several hours later.
McKay said the inconvenience of changing Court Street to Pinchot Court, if the council approves the change, pales in comparison with the kind of sacrifice police officers routinely make.
