Ailing El Segundo Detective Retires

An El Segundo police detective whose battle with leukemia has attracted thousands of volunteers for the National Bone Marrow Donor program has decided to retire from the department.

Roger Kahl, 50, officially retired from the department Saturday. Administrators said Kahl’s illness has slowly decreased the number of days he has been able to work; he last worked early in February.

“He’s the ultimate juvenile officer,” said Sgt. John Ogden, who is helping to organize Kahl’s March 20 retirement dinner. “He really has worked with the people of this town to make El Segundo and its kids what they are today.”

Kahl, a 26-year veteran of the department, was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 1983. Doctors told him when he was diagnosed that his only hope for a cure would be a bone marrow transplant, but at that time such transplants were only done between siblings. Kahl has no brothers or sisters.

Two years ago, Kahl registered with the National Bone Marrow Donor program, which in 1989 began keeping a computerized registry of possible unrelated donors. El Segundo community groups stage an annual 5-K race, Roger’s Run, to raise money for the registry.

No donor has been found for Kahl, but several of the thousands of people added to the registry in his name have been able to donate marrow to try to save other people’s lives.