The frame around his police motorcycle license plate read, “One more ticket and I get the microwave.”

Billy Jack will never get his microwave, but in three years on the Carlsbad Police Department, he won hundreds of friends from the barrio to City Hall.

Nearly 1,200 people, including more than 600 uniformed officers, gathered at Carlsbad Community Church to say farewell to William “Billy” Robert Jack.

The 30-year-old traffic officer, known to his colleagues as Billy Jack and “Billy the Kid,” died Sept. 1, 1991, of head injuries after being thrown from his motorcycle while on duty. He had been directing traffic after a labor Day weekend concert when he lost control of his motorcycle, hit a center divider, and crashed.

The joke on his license plate was typical of Jack’s sense of humor, friends said, but hardly reflected his serious dedication to his job.

“He had the zeal of a teenager,” said his supervisor, Sgt. Don Metcalf. “He was always exuberant – he could drive you crazy. He never had a bad day.”

Police Chief Bob Vales didn’t sanction the microwave joke when he discovered it a few months ago, but he decided to risk offending citizens and let Jack keep it. “I’m glad I did,” Vales said during the funeral service. “When I had the Billy Jacks of the world working for me, my job was a lot easier.”

Kids loved Jack, Vales said, and Jack loved playing the part of crime-fighting dog McGruff, running a bicycle safety class, and taking time to meet children around the city.

Frank Sorino, coach of a fledgling community boxing team for underprivileged youths whom Jack worked with, attended the funeral with several teens, saying, “It’s a loss to us, too.”

Also at the services were Mayor Bud Lewis, other city officials, and Escondido Police Chief Vincent Jimno, former chief in Carlsbad.

Jack, who lived in Oceanside, joined the department in July 1988 after two years with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He was engaged to marry Tina Cunniff of Oceanside.

His father, Kenneth, of Escondido, and two younger brothers, Curtis and Douglas, said William had wanted to be a police officer since he was a child.

“When we played war, he was always the Green Beret, the good guy,” remembered Douglas Jack. “He was destined to be a police officer – what else could you do when you are strong, silent, and constant?”

Their father, after telling the congregation of his pride in Jack’s accomplishments, patted his son’s flag-draped coffin in a parting caress.

Moments later, six pallbearers carried the coffin through a double row of uniformed Carlsbad officers to a waiting hearse as hundreds of other officers stood in the street, saluting.

Enroute to Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside for Jack’s burial, a phalanx of nearly 100 motorcycle officers led a procession of nearly 100 more patrol cars from nearly every city in the county, plus Laguna Niguel, Atascadero, San Clemente, and Laguna Beach. The Border Patrol, California Highway Patrol, county marshals, State Park personnel, lifeguards, and the Carlsbad Fire Department also were represented.

Jack was born in San Jose on Feb. 28, 1961 and graduated from high school in Falmouth, Mass in 1979.

He worked for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department before joining the department in Carlsbad, where he was assigned to its traffic division in April.

Jack is survived by his mother, Annine Jack, of Oceanside; father, Kenneth Jack, of Escondido; brothers Curtis Jack of Oceanside and Douglas Jack, of Lake Buena Vista, Fla.; and grandparents Mr. and Mrs. James H. Jack of Southbury, Conn.

Charles Randy Champe and Gary A. Howe, veteran Los Angeles police officers who fought crime from the cockpit of a helicopter, were eulogized June 20 as heroes for keeping their aircraft from striking a day-care center and an elementary school as it plunged from the sky.

The two police officers were killed June 13, 1991, in a helicopter crash apparently caused when the helicopter’s engine failed on a routine patrol. More than 2,000 law enforcement officers from throughout Southern California converged on the Hollywood Hills to honor them.

“To our fellow officers who have departed, we can never say thank you, but we can remember. And we will,” said Deputy Chief Mark A. Krocker.

More than 30 helicopters saluted the fallen officers with a 10-minute flyover as part of the smoggy morning ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery. The memorial service opened with a bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace” and ended 90 minutes later with the somber blasts of “Taps” from a gleaming trumpet.

Champe, 46, and Howe, 41, were remembered as brave and dedicated members of the department’s Air Support Division. Krocker – and later Police Chief Daryl F Gates – expressed concern that the officers’ “ultimate sacrifice” had gone unappreciated because of widespread civic criticism of the Police Department.

In remarks to reporters after the service, a solemn Gates agreed. “I am not sure the people really recognize the contributions that officers like these two make to the peace, safety, and good order of this city,” said Gates. “It makes all of these other issues pale into total insignificance.”

Police and military honor guards paid tribute to the two officers with a 21-gun salute, followed by the ceremonial folding of the American flags that had been draped over the caskets. Gates and Capt. Robert Woods, commanding officer of the Air Support Division, presented the flags to Sue Champe, and Lynette Howe the widows.

Champe, a 17-year veteran and the helicopter’s observer, was remembered by two Marines who had served with him in Vietnam. Bill Peters described his decorated war buddy as a quiet man who over the years “opened like a flower.”

Howe, a 20-year police veteran and pilot of the helicopter, was honored as a dedicated police officer and a devoted father and husband. In addition to his wife, Howe leaves three children, Stefani, 14, Robert, 10, and Brent, 8.

In memory of the two officers, Police Department officials said the unit designation “Air 12,” which had been assigned to Champe and Howe, will no longer be used by the department.

“We will never again hear from Air 12,” Officer Frank Provenzano, a former partner of Champe, told mourners. “Air 12, clear,” said Officer Bill Stough.

Charles Randy Champe and Gary A. Howe, veteran Los Angeles police officers who fought crime from the cockpit of a helicopter, were eulogized June 20 as heroes for keeping their aircraft from striking a day-care center and an elementary school as it plunged from the sky.

The two police officers were killed June 13, 1991, in a helicopter crash apparently caused when the helicopter’s engine failed on a routine patrol. More than 2,000 law enforcement officers from throughout Southern California converged on the Hollywood Hills to honor them.

“To our fellow officers who have departed, we can never say thank you, but we can remember. And we will,” said Deputy Chief Mark A. Krocker.

More than 30 helicopters saluted the fallen officers with a 10-minute flyover as part of the smoggy morning ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery. The memorial service opened with a bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace” and ended 90 minutes later with the somber blasts of “Taps” from a gleaming trumpet.

Champe, 46, and Howe, 41, were remembered as brave and dedicated members of the department’s Air Support Division. Krocker – and later Police Chief Daryl F Gates – expressed concern that the officers’ “ultimate sacrifice” had gone unappreciated because of widespread civic criticism of the Police Department.

In remarks to reporters after the service, a solemn Gates agreed. “I am not sure the people really recognize the contributions that officers like these two make to the peace, safety, and good order of this city,” said Gates. “It makes all of these other issues pale into total insignificance.”

Police and military honor guards paid tribute to the two officers with a 21-gun salute, followed by the ceremonial folding of the American flags that had been draped over the caskets. Gates and Capt. Robert Woods, commanding officer of the Air Support Division, presented the flags to Sue Champe, and Lynette Howe the widows.

Champe, a 17-year veteran and the helicopter’s observer, was remembered by two Marines who had served with him in Vietnam. Bill Peters described his decorated war buddy as a quiet man who over the years “opened like a flower.”

Howe, a 20-year police veteran and pilot of the helicopter, was honored as a dedicated police officer and a devoted father and husband. In addition to his wife, Howe leaves three children, Stefani, 14, Robert, 10, and Brent, 8.

In memory of the two officers, Police Department officials said the unit designation “Air 12,” which had been assigned to Champe and Howe, will no longer be used by the department.

“We will never again hear from Air 12,” Officer Frank Provenzano, a former partner of Champe, told mourners. “Air 12, clear,” said Officer Bill Stough.

Sacramento Police Officer Michael David Gartrell loved the moment when he could turn on the overhead lights and do what he was paid to do: catch the bad guy.

But Gartrell, who was killed during a pursuit on April 25, 1991, was more than a cop who loved the chase. He was eulogized as a sensitive, funny, and hard-working person.

“He loved his job, the department, the chase,” said fellow Officer Steve Kiehn. “No matter what, he felt he was going to catch that guy. But what he loved more was his family,” he said.

For more than an hour, 450 police and 200 family and friends took time to remember Gartrell.

He was remembered as a diligent officer, a teller of corny jokes, a rider of Harley’s. and a sentimentalist who never forgot birthdays.

Gartrell, 37, died instantly when his patrol car smashed into a concrete abutment during a pursuit of a suspected drunk driver.

The 20-year-old driver of the fleeing car was arrested and charged with murder, felony drunk driving, evading arrest, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Gartrell apparently attempted to pull the driver over in a routine traffic stop as the suspect drove out of an apartment complex without his headlights on. Instead the driver sped away. “From the time he started the pursuit and put out the call, we’re only talking seconds. Probably within a minute, he was in the collision,” CHP spokesman Rick Sullivan said. Gartrell’s pursuit covered less than a mile.

Two responding Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department units took over. One stopped at the accident scene, and the other kept after the suspect, who authorities say took a dizzying spin up and down several nearby streets.

The chase ended when the driver lost control of his car and smashed into a pole. The pursuing deputy then rammed his patrol car into the Cutlass to prevent the driver from fleeing, he said.

In a scene that has become familiar at the funerals for officers who die in the line of duty, there was a sea of blue and green. Officers from a dozen jurisdictions filed by his casket.

But before they paid their last respects, buddies from his department spoke about the likable nature of Gartrell, who was an officer in Hawaii before moving to Sacramento.

Although he had the opportunity to leave the graveyard shift, he preferred to stay. Being home during the day allowed him to help his stepdaughter Dana Austin with school projects. He also wanted Sundays off to ride motorcycles with his wife, Bethany. “He was thrilled to have a wife that rode a Harley,” said Kiehn.

Kiehn said that It was in Gartrell’s nature to give, even though at times “he presented this rough-and-tough image of a macho cop.”

Sacramento Police Officer Steve Reese said Gartrell did not shun difficult or dangerous work. “On that morning, he could have let that car go,” Reese told the crowd, which included Mayor Anne Rudin and Councilman Joe Serna. “He could have closed his eyes. But he was not like that. He was a professional.”

Sgt. Larry Chavez recalled that Gartrell worked for him when he first came to Sacramento: “He was not only a hard-working officer, he had a great sense of humor. Very reliable and absolutely trustworthy.”

Chavez said that Gartrell was especially good at calming down domestic quarrels and neighborhood fights. “He dealt with conflict really well. He helped iron things out.”

Gartrell had been employed by the Sacramento Police Department since Oct. 9, 1985, when he was hired as a reserve officer. He was appointed as a community service officer on Sept. 12, 1987, and was promoted to police officer on April 16, 1988.

An El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputy was killed February 26, 1991.  He was responding to a call for service when his patrol vehicle failed to negotiate a curve and crashed into a tree near Diamond Springs in Northern California.

Deputy Michael Cole, age 33, was pronounced dead at the scene. Lieutenant James Roloff, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, said a citizen passing the crash site called 911 to report the accident.

Deputy Cole Joined the Sheriff’s Department on August 4, 1990, after working for the Oxnard Police Department for 10 years.

“He loved the area… We both felt it was a great place to raise our kids,” said fellow Deputy Tony Campagna.

“He was a real nice guy, a great big guy too,” added Lt. Roloff. “He wasn’t with us long. He was always real up, and friendly. That is rare in this type of work.”

Born April 16, 1957 at Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, NV, he graduated from Hueneme High School. Cole began his law enforcement career as a cadet, explorer, and was a reserve officer with the Oxnard Police Department for two years, donating more than 1,200 hours of his own time. He was appointed a regular officer in May 1980.  In 1989, Cole was nominated for the Oxnard Officer of the Year award, sponsored by the South Oxnard Kiwanis Club, for outstanding service to the Police Department and the community. He was a member of the Santa Clara Catholic Church, active in the parish and elementary school.

He was also active in Easter Seals of Ventura County. Cole was a member of PORAC, Oxnard POA, Ventura Co. POA, and El Dorado Co. DSA.

Deputy Cole is survived by his wife, Lori; three sons, Robert, 9, Gregory, 5, and Christopher. 3, at the family home in Pollock Pines; and a brother, Joseph of Santa Barbara.

Tina Kerbrat, the first woman Los Angeles police officer killed in the line of duty, was buried following a poignant funeral in which her children presented some of their favorite toys as a final gift to their mother.

As their father fought to constrain his grief, 3-year-old Nicole and 6-year-old Craig offered a baby doll and a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” as part of the gifting tradition of the Catholic Mass.

About 3,500 mourners, mostly uniformed officers, jammed St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in Granada Hills and overflowed outside to say goodbye to their fallen comrade, who was shot Monday, Feb. 11, 1991, while on patrol duty.

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony presided over the service, offering words of comfort for Kerbrat’s husband and children and praise for the police officers who face a “tremendous level of violence” on the city’s streets each day.

“It is very deep sadness we all feel in our hearts today,” Mahony said. “It isn’t Just one family minus a wife and a mother, but all of us who feel the pain of her loss.”

Looking out at the hundreds of police officers gathered for the ceremony, Mahony added: “As you patrol the killing streets of Los Angeles, all of us owe you incredible gratitude…”

“We, as a community, have not done what is necessary to make our streets, houses, neighbors, friends, and children safe,” he said. “We have failed all of you. Until all of our citizens are filled with deep enough resolve… it is unfair for us to expect you to find the mysterious solution to these problems.”

“We must walk with our heads lowered in shame,” Mahony said.

Kerbrat’s husband Tim, a Los Angeles city fire inspector, clutched his daughter on his lap during the ceremony, while Craig sat on the lap of a fellow firefighter.

Kerbrat, 34, a rookie officer assigned to the North Hollywood Division, was shot in the head as she and her partner made a routine stop in Sun Valley to question two men suspected of drinking in public.

Kerbrat’s partner, Officer Earl Valladares, killed the gunman, 32-year-old Jose Amaya, whom police described as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Officer Kerbrat was the second Los Angeles Police Department officer in four months to be gunned down by an alien marked for deportation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“Tina treasured her family,” said police Chaplain Simon Garcia, who delivered the eulogy. “She shared her love, her hopes, her dreams with her husband, and she was hopelessly devoted to her children.” Tina is also survived by her mother, Beverly Zapata, grandfather, Frank Barrett, brothers, Daniel Zapata, John Zapata, Frank Zapata, and sisters, Elaine Ohara and Monique Aston.

The Rev. Christian Van Liefde, a city fire Department chaplain who married the Kerbrat’s and baptized their two children, remembered the slain officer as a woman of deep love, faith, and strength.

“In many a locker room and police station, we have silently wept many tears,” Van Liefde said. “She touched so many lives in the parish and in her love for neighbors and friends.”

Mourners stood stone-faced as law enforcement officers saluted the casket, which was carried to the hearse by six white-gloved police pallbearers. Mayor Tom Bradley and City Council members attended the funeral.

After the funeral Mass, 185 police-driven motorcycles and scores of patrol cars wound their way to San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

At the cemetery, three mounted policemen and a riderless horse – symbolizing the fallen police officer – led the procession to the grave site.

A bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” and four police helicopters flew overhead. Later, officers honored their slain colleague with a 21-gun salute and a mournful playing of “Taps.”

More than 700 law enforcement officers from throughout California gathered in Camarillo to pay tribute to a 34-year-old Ventura County CHP officer who was killed Nov. 15, 1990 when a car struck his motorcycle.

James Christopher O’Connor was remembered by friends and fellow officers at his funeral services as a friendly man with a dry wit and a calm manner. The six-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol often helped officers with less experience, said Sgt. Dane Hayward, O’Connor’s good friend and his supervising officer.

O’Connor also assisted motorists in changing tires and doggedly pursued accident investigations. But O’Connor was known most for his motorcycle prowess, Hayward said in his eulogy. “There was a standing line that he might not be able to get out of the parking lot in a car without hitting something, but put him on a cycle, and he could get across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope,” Hayward said. It was that grace on the motorcycle that made his death so ironic, Hayward said.

O’Connor died as he and three fellow officers were returning from a motorcycle training session in Santa Maria, CHP officials said. “A few minutes later, his ride was over,” Hayward said. O’Connor was riding in the left rear position of a box formation with the other officers on California 154 outside Santa Ynez when a car veered into the path of the motorcyclists, officials said.

Three officers managed to swerve, but O’Connor was struck head-on and thrown 60 feet, his helmet knocked loose by the impact, the CHP said. He was dead on arrival at Santa Ynez Valley Hospital.

The driver of the car, Ella Harrison, 78, of Solvang, and her husband, Frederick, 79, suffered minor injuries. Mrs. Harrison was not cited in the incident.

O’Connor joined the CHP in late 1982 and was assigned to western San Fernando Valley. He worked there with his wife, Carla, also a CHP officer, until he was transferred to Ventura County in August, 1989.

Carla O’Connor and her three children Evelyn Bittner, 10, Elaine Bittner, 11, and Elizabeth Bittner, 15, were joined by about 100 friends and relatives at the St. Mary Magdalen Church for the funeral services.

O’Connor is the fourth CHP officer in Ventura County to be killed in the line of duty, CHP Officer Jim Utter said.

Shot near the heart, off-duty Los Angeles Police Dept. homicide Detective Russell Kuster fired seven times and killed a man who threatened patrons in a Universal City restaurant and then died himself Oct. 9, 1990.

Kuster, 50, had once booked the gunman, Bela Istvan Marko, 37, on suspicion of murder in another shootout, but it was unclear if the detective recognized him during the incident at the Hilltop Hungarian Restaurant.

Police said Marko had an argument with the restaurant owner, who told him to leave. Marko, a twice-convicted illegal Hungarian immigrant, got a 9mm semiautomatic pistol from a rented Mercedes-Benz and returned to the restaurant where he flashed its laser beam sights at patrons of the cocktail lounge, police said. When Kuster identified himself as an officer and ordered Marko to put down his gun, Marko fired at Kuster, hitting him four times, police said. Falling to the floor, Kuster fired back, hitting Marko in and the head.

“You’ve got an experienced police detective with 24 1/2 years experience, very close to retirement, who did a very brave thing,” said Capt. Rick Dinse, Hollywood Division commander. “Who knows if he didn’t sacrifice his life for the other people in the bar.”

Kuster, a 24-year LAPD veteran assigned to Hollywood Division, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank about an hour after the shooting, police said.

Police officers wore black elastic bands across their badges. and flags throughout Los Angeles flew at half-mast to honor Kuster.

Kuster, who lives near the restaurant, was there with a neighbor, “enjoying himself and suddenly called to duty that quickly . . . risking his life over nothing, just nothing,” Police Chief Daryl F Gates said at a news conference. It’s particularly tragic because here’s a man who’s been dealing with murderers for the last 18 years,” Gates said. “So he’s faced danger day in, day out.”

As an off-duty officer, Kuster was under no obligation to intercede, Gates said. “But when you get into a situation like that, there isn’t any choice. There might be something some would do to try to get out of there quickly. But not a man like Kuster,” he said. “If you have your heart blown apart you’ve got six seconds to react, and certainly, within those six seconds, he did indeed react.”

Gates described Kuster, a homicide detective for 18 years who worked the John Belushi drug overdose death, as a “consummate police officer,” a “very, very fine detective and a very fine man.”

Kuster’s success at solving murders and training other detectives earned him the respect of officers throughout the department. “Before I ever went to the Hollywood bureau, Russ was known to me by reputation,” said Lt. Bob Ruchhoft, Kuster’s commanding officer since February. “He produced the best detectives in town.”

Kuster is survived by his wife, Sue, his parents, two brothers, and a sister. Kuster was born in Kentucky, moved to Dilisboro, Ind., and graduated from Indiana University. He served in the U.S. Marines from 1958-61 and then joined the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. He entered the Los Angeles Police Academy in 1966.

In 1985, Gates sent a letter to Kuster commending him for the Hollywood homicide division’s 93 percent clearance rate, saying he was “impressed with the morale, dedication, and accomplishments” of his unit. Kuster also helped develop a homicide information, tracking, and management computer program, known as HITMAN. The program earned nationwide acclaim and was adopted department-wide.