Contributed

The Department of Veterans Affairs names members to the Sexual Assault and Harassment Prevention Workgroup who will begin serving their one-year appointment this September.

On Sunday, September 12, 2021, around 1:06 AM, deputies assigned to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department- John Benoit Detention Center, conducted a routine security check of a housing unit. During the security check, the deputies discovered an unresponsive male inmate in his cell. Custody staff and jail medical staff immediately began to administer life-saving measures. Fire personnel and American Medical Response (AMR) responded and continued further life- saving measures which were ultimately unsuccessful, and the inmate was pronounced deceased.

On September 11, 2021, at 6:11 PM, while conducting proactive patrol, the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team/Gang Unit conducted an occupied vehicle check at Deerfern Avenue and Deer Park Drive in Moreno Valley. During the check deputies recognized a male juvenile as a documented criminal street gang member, on probation, and with a current felony warrant for his arrest.

On September 10, 2021, at 10:05 pm, Eastvale deputies were conducting a battery investigation near the 5400 block of W. Homecoming Cir., in the city of Eastvale, when an adult male contacted the deputy and advised he had been shot. The deputy requested assistance and rendered medical aid to the victim until relieved by Cal Fire personnel. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Jurupa Valley station detectives responded to the location and assumed the investigation.

As I reflect on the recent news of leaving Afghanistan, it reminds me of the evacuation I participated in as a junior enlisted marine in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984. Despite both the differences and similarities between these two operations, the main thing to remember is, as Marines, soldiers, or whatever branch of service, we receive our orders from the top. Our orders descend from the commander-in-chief to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, through the chain of command, all the way down through the lowly private standing next to you. We go and we accomplish the mission, trusting in the decisions of our superiors and absent of politics. Or so we thought!