Last month, 30 years after the shooting, John Peters, Officer Giniewicz’s stepson, was sworn in as chief of police in Grover
Beach, Calif.
As he became police chief, Peters was living the dream his late stepfather had always envisioned for himself but was unable to achieve.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Cops-2.jpg” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”City of Grover Beach Police Chief John Peters” captionposition=”right”] “[Tony] always wanted to be a police officer…The day he was born he wanted to be in law enforcement, and he enjoyed it up until he couldn’t do it any longer,” said Barbara Giniewicz, mother of Peters and wife of Giniewicz. “His wish was one day to eventually make chief, but of course life changes, and wishes don’t come true all the time.”
On the night of Feb. 19, 1985 Officer Giniewicz and his partner had just gotten off duty and went to eat at a local restaurant on the border of Long Beach and Signal Hill. As Giniewicz’s partner left to go home for the evening, he was robbed of his weapon by three armed gang members who had intended to rob the restaurant. After his weapon was seized, he ran back into the restaurant to notify Giniewicz, who then went outside to confront the suspects. Officer Giniewicz was fired upon and paralyzed by a bullet in his spine. Despite the tragedy, Peters was determined to accomplish his own lifelong goal of becoming a police officer.
“That was his dream since the time he actually knew what a police officer was. When he was 4 years old he decided ‘I’m going to be a policeman,'” BaPrbara Giniewicz said. “He would have made his daddy proud.”
Peters began his career in Massachusetts and later moved to Dodge City, Kan.,
where he worked for a few years before returning to California in Oct. 2001, and later beginning a 10-year career in Grover Beach.
As a child, Peters was always surrounded and intrigued by police culture since two of his uncles worked in law enforcement on the East Coast. He even recalled always playing the role of the cop in games of cops and robbers when he was younger, but his main inspiration for joining the profession was his stepfather Tony.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Cops-3.jpg” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Officer Anthony Giniewicz when he worked for the Signal Hill Police Department” captionposition=”left”] “Seeing what Tony was going through prior to the shooting… I just thought it was always very interesting,” Peters said. “I just was always attracted to it…doing a service to the community…He’s the one that instilled the values and helped me shape my character in life and taught me everything that I know.”
Barbara Giniewicz remembers a young Peters who was always asking his stepfather questions about being a police officer, tagging along to target shooting or to the police department and being so eager to learn the ins and outs of firearms.
When Peters finally became a police officer, he and Officer Giniewicz would talk for hours, “never breaking topic” about the things that were happening or that may happen in the future.
In 2014, the Signal Hill Police Department dedicated a section of Interstate 405 between Atlantic Avenue and Cherry Avenue to Officer Giniewicz as well as memorializing him in an art piece outside the department.
“Signal Hill has done so much for our family, and the memorial and everything was outstanding,” Barbara Giniewicz said. “There’s no way to thank them. They went above and beyond with the dedication of the freeway and the memorial outside the police department. It was phenomenal.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Cops-4.jpg” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Police Chief John Peters (right) and his mother Barbara Giniewicz after Peters was sworn in as chief of police in Grover Beach” captionposition=”right”] Both she and Peters praise the City of Signal Hill as well as the police department and community for the outpouring of support they received after the shooting. According to Peters, the aftermath of his stepfather’s injuries and the response from SHPD further inspired him to join the field.
“Seeing how that comradery was there and how that family atmosphere was there was reassuring,” he said. “To know that there is a profession that you could go into and make a difference in the community but at the same time know that those folks will also help you out as well pretty much sealed the deal.”
After 21 years of law-enforcement experience, Peters, although once happy to retire as a sergeant, successfully gained the education, skills, experience and training needed to become chief of police.
“I couldn’t have changed his mind,” his mother said. “I’m just like any other family out there— you worry, but he’s going to do a good job. I know he’s going to do a good job, and I’m so proud that he’s made it to be police chief. I just wish his dad was here to see him accomplish what he did.”
