Orange County’s Walk of Honor isn’t the only memorial at the civic center in Santa Ana that officials say is being disrespected on a daily basis.
Last week, I wrote about County Treasurer/Tax Collector Chriss Street’s mission to clean up the memorial wall in front of his office where, on a daily basis, veterans’ plaques are sat upon, scuffed up and even urinated on.
Street wants the plaques either moved or in some way protected from the actions of the homeless people who congregate around the wall.
It seems that the Peace Officers’ Memorial at the Plaza of the Flags is suffering a similar fate. And police officials want something done about it.
That memorial is also being urinated on during the day, say Sheriff’s Department officials. Some plaques that memorialize specific fallen officers have even been stolen, officials speculate, for scrap metal.
“It’s difficult to provide security,” said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ryan Burris. “There’s a whole bunch of issues.”
Burris said the current site of the memorial was never meant to be permanent and fundraising efforts to move it are ongoing.
“The overall vision was to build something permanent and beautiful to honor the fallen,” Burris said, adding that the department is planning on moving the memorial to its training academy.
“If we have it in a more secured facility, such as the training facility,” Burris said, “you can close the area at night so you know people aren’t doing anything to it.”