Jack Webb Tribute

[tv star collector]

Posted by Mark Evanier:

Jack Webb was intensely loyal to police organizations, and the L.A.P.D. was equally grateful to Webb for providing the best possible P.R. for the department. When Webb died of a heart attack on Thursday, December 23, 1982, Chief of Police Darryl F. Gates eulogized the actor/producer as "a member of the Los Angeles Police Department family" and the man whose image "we all wished we could project." Chief Gates ordered all departmental flags flown at half-mast, restored Joe Friday's promotion to lieutenant and permanently retired badge #714 (which remained on permanent display at L.A.P.D. Headquarters). Webb became the first civilian to be buried with full L.A.P.D. departmental honors usually reserved for hero cops killed in the line of duty -- including a Highland piper performing "Amazing Grace," a bugler playing "Taps," a memorial gunshot volley from the Police Color Guard and a missing-man helicopter formation.