Each year, El Paseo Jewelers, a family-owned jewelry store in Palm Desert, honors a local law enforcement community member.

The award is named for Sgt. Rick Espinoza, a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy who responded to a jewelry store robbery in 2006.

This year’s honoree was Cpl. Reuben Perez, a deputy stabbed several times in August with a screwdriver while answering a call. He survived and has returned to duty.

Although law enforcement received heavy criticism nationally this year, Raju and Jaishri Mehta, owners of El Paseo, have nothing but praise for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the Palm Desert Police Department.

“Trust is at the cornerstone of every thriving relationship,” Jaishri said. “This award is so important to Raju and I as we grew up in countries where police officers often weren’t trusted when seeing a police officer often didn’t equal security, safety or relief. This award is a small token of our appreciation of giving us the safety and security that we didn’t have as children.”

Perez praised the Sheriff’s Department for its support after he was attacked and for the training it provided to prepare him.

“We’re under a lot of pressure from today’s society because of the things that we’re getting feedback on,” he said. “However, we don’t stop training. We don’t stop doing the things that we’re supposed to do and we take care of the community regardless of the response that we get back.”

Espinoza, for whom the award is named, said he is often asked if he still wants to be a law enforcement officer given the current climate of criticism of police.

“My answer is always yes,” he said. “My follow-up response is always, ‘If not me, then who? If not him or her, then who? I believe the vast majority of law enforcement does the right thing because it is the right thing to do, ensuring law and order.”