Those who knew Sacramento Police Officer Tara O’Sullivan describe her as a champion in the community, a doer, a go-getter with a positive attitude.
Officer O’Sullivan was fatally shot last year in the line of duty. Now, as part of her ongoing legacy, the Sacramento City Council on Feb. 11 unanimously approved renaming the Woodlake Park Baseball Field as the “Officer Tara O’Sullivan Memorial Field.”
“You, more than anyone, have suffered a profound loss,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said to Officer O’Sullivan’s parents, who visited council chambers with members of the police department on Tuesday. “I know it’s small comfort, but the truth is that the entire Sacramento community, starting with the men and women in uniform … also suffered a tremendous loss with the death of Tara last summer.”
Officer O’Sullivan joined the Sacramento Police Department in January 2018 as a Community Service Officer. She graduated from the Sacramento Police Academy in December of that year. As a police officer, she was devoted to helping victims of domestic violence, her colleagues said.
“[She was a] goodwill ambassador for the police department,” said Councilmember Allen Warren, who represents the north Sacramento district that contains Woodlake Park (500 Arden Way). “She was precisely the type of police officer that I wanted policing in District 2.”
On June 19, 2019, Tara was shot and killed while helping a domestic violence victim retrieve belongings from her attacker’s home in north Sacramento.
“Her spirit will live forever, but we want her name to be heard for generations to come,” Warren said. “We want people to come to this park to understand the history of the young lady that this park is named after.”