Fallen Sergeant Dee Dowell Memorial Foundation

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Background:

The Dee Dowell Memorial Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization giving nearly $100,000 in scholarships to Ventura youth since 2002. The Ventura Police Officers' Association (VPOA) is proud to sponsor the Dee Dowell Memorial Golf Tournament and Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship Program for college-bound students. The Dee Dowell Scholarship Program provides monetary awards to students who plan to devote themselves to a career in public service.

Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship

The Ventura Police Officers’ Association (VPOA) proudly announces that more than $7,000 will be awarded to scholarship recipients through its annual Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship Program. The deadline to apply is June 30, 2023.  

The scholarship will be awarded to three applicants who plan to explore a career in law enforcement. To be eligible for the Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship students must: 

  • Be entering their freshman through senior year in college 
  • Plan a course of study related to the field of public service 
  • Be a Ventura resident, have graduated from a high school in Ventura within the past three years, or be a Ventura Police Department employee or employee’s child. 
  • Have a grade point average of 3.0 or better (based on a 4.0 system) 
  • Maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better if selected as a recipient 
  • Submit a resume of school and community activities, including a copy of transcripts through the most recent semester 
  • Submit a typed essay of 1,000 words or less on “Service, what it means to me” 
  • Submit a letter of recommendation from a public servant 

In selecting scholarship recipients, the VPOA will consider academic achievement, community service, and financial need. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Scholarship awards will be presented in July 2023. 

For more information, please email Sergeant Mike Acquarelli.

Sergeant "Dee" Dowell

Sergeant Darlon Dowell

On Monday, August 7, 1978, Sergeant Darlon "Dee" Dowell became the first and only Ventura Police Officer killed in the line of duty.

On August 6, four men tried to rob a businessman making a night deposit at the Bank of America on Victoria Avenue. The robbery was interrupted and the four suspects fled; two were apprehended immediately but Robert K. Lee, 22, and Keith Kuhne, 20, escaped.

The next day a team of seven Ventura police officers served arrest and search warrants on the two outstanding suspects. Sergeant Dowell, Detective Don Bales, Detective Carl Handy, and Officer Gary McCaskill approached the front door of the suspects' house on N. Olive while Sergeant Art "A. J." Farrar, Detective John Leach, and Officer Don Arth set up a perimeter around the residence. Officers entered the home and were detaining Kuhne in the living room when Lee fired a shotgun from a darkened hallway, fatally wounding Sergeant Dowell. Lee then ran through the house, crashed through a rear window, and was shot and killed by pursuing officers.

At the time of his death, Sergeant Dowell, 32, was a nine-year veteran of the Ventura Police Department. We will remember him as a dedicated police officer, devoted husband, and loving father to his two young children.

The City of San Buenaventura named Dowell Drive, the location of police headquarters, in Dee's honor.