with its elegant rotunda, the reflecting waters of the sub rounding lagoon and fraying rant eucalyptus trees, special dates and memorable proposals. it is the perfect picnic spot to relax with that special someone by listening to water and fountain in the lagoon and gazing as the swans go gracefully by. beautiful to view from many locations along the lagoon and inside the columns is an ideal place to walk around with your loved one. the palace of fine arts is the most popular location in the city arts system. reservations for weddings and other events

>> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the colors and the singing of the national anthem.

uniformed officers, present arms. ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ whose broad stripes and bright

stars thru the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? ♪ and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. ♪ oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

>> please be seated. good evening, i would like to welcome to you san francisco police department medal of valor ceremony. i am inspector, john monroe, and i will be the master of ceremons this evening. i would like to first welcome

everyone here. and welcome mayor lee, and i believe that supervisor wiener may be the audience. and a few thank yous. first to the allegiance of honor, for being generous with your room and mccall's catering, and thank you to the san francisco police department for the generous donation and poa for their jgenerosity to this event and reesa, that does most of this work. thank you. and last and not least, the families and friends and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers that support your officers every day and night for them to come out and do the work they do. give yourself a round of applause. thank you.

first i will introduce you to your commission. your police commission, and then introduce you to your command staff and then we will have the chief speak, the mayor speak, the vice president of the commission and the president of the commission. i would like to start with your police commission. first we have commissioner carol kingsley. commissioner joseph marshall. commissioner suzy loftus. and commissioner petra dejesus. vice president julius turman, and president, thomas mazzucco. and the command staff. commander hector fines.

commander joseph garrity. commander charlie ork. commander alie. commander richard korea. deputy chief denise smith. deputy chief david chen. deputy chief john loftus. deputy chief michael beal. deputy chief tomakia, my boss and the chief gregory pesir. and last and not least the mayor of city and county of san francisco, ed lee. first i would like to start with vice president turman and president mazzucco to say a few words for you.

>> thank you very much, inspector monroe, distinguished guests. tonight i ask my vice president turman to be present, because he actually participated in the selection of these awards. on behalf of the police commission i want to congratulate the officers and their families. we have had a busy week at the san francisco police department, on friday night we graduated 46 brand-new officers from the 235th recruit class, and during my speech to the officers, i talked about being courageous. you are courageous. i talked about becoming san francisco's finest. you are san francisco's finest. on tuesday we had a promotion ceremony and another speech speaking to officers and

commanders and i spoke to them about their role and what is expected of them training the next generation of san francisco's finest. and during that i talked about leading example. i said lead by example by the plan there, chief suhr. and i talked about an example that is relevant to you today. i talked about how he could comfortable and officers could be comfortable with him despite their rank, because there is a mutual respect. and that mutual respect is that the chief knows at any given moment those officers would be called upon to do something more important than his duties as chief of police. you are those officers and to you and your family i want to congratulate you for your courage. i am proud to serve as one of your police commissioners.

>> good evening, so this is what it looks like when men and women and people every day human beings are everyday heroes but today is no ordinary day. because those everyday heroes have gathered, considered and contemplated. and we stand here today to honor the extraordinary effort of extraordinary people. today you will hear stories about the officers of san francisco police department. all ranks. all stripes. different backgrounds. different knowledge. different abilities. but with one common thing in mind, they cared. they cared enough to go that extra mile to protect the city and county of san francisco.

and its citizens. but it is no wonder that we are gathered here in this place to name some individuals. because this is what it looks like. an extraordinary police department. but they should be extraordinary. because it is my privilege to sit with these ladies and gentlemen who have the privilege of working alongside of an extraordinary command staff, extraordinary captains, and extraordinary police chief. today you will hear stories of sacrifice, of danger, of caring of others before they cared for themselves. but it is no secret as to why that happens. because it's