What Is the MMOC Honor Guard and "The Flying Cross"?

Updated

The MMOC Honor Guard is the ceremonial unit of the Municipal Motorcycle Officers of California (MMOC), the nonprofit law enforcement organization founded in 1928 to promote traffic safety across California. "The Flying Cross" appears on the MMOC website as a named feature tied to the Honor Guard, alongside a reference to an Oakland Police Department Drill Team member. If you are trying to understand how the Honor Guard fits into MMOC's identity, the short answer is that it represents the organization's ceremonial and tradition-facing side, distinct from its traffic-safety and charitable work.

What the MMOC Is, in One Paragraph

MMOC is a nonprofit corporation made up of active and retired law enforcement personnel. Its membership also includes judges, district attorneys, chiefs of police, sheriffs, and other professionals, plus supporters from the general public. Its stated goal since 1928 has been to promote traffic safety throughout California. It raises funds through events across the state and by selling MMOC collector items online.

The Honor Guard's Place in the Organization

The MMOC website lists the Honor Guard as a distinct section alongside its main content areas, which include:

  • Latest News
  • Photo Gallery
  • Calendar of Events
  • MMOC Honor Guard
  • "The Flying Cross"

That placement tells you the Honor Guard is treated as a standing part of MMOC's public identity rather than a one-off event. Ceremonial units of this kind typically appear at official functions, memorials, and law enforcement gatherings, presenting colors and rendering honors. The site's own framing supports this: the Honor Guard sits next to "The Flying Cross" and a reference to an Oakland Police Department Drill Team member, all of which point to ceremonial drill and tradition rather than traffic-safety operations.

What "The Flying Cross" Refers To

Based on the page evidence, "The Flying Cross" is a named element associated with the Honor Guard section of the MMOC site. The available source material does not define it further — it does not specify whether it is a ceremony, an award, a performance formation, or a commemorative item. What can be said with confidence is that it is presented as part of MMOC's ceremonial tradition and is grouped with the Honor Guard and drill-team content.

If you need the precise definition, the reliable path is to open the MMOC Honor Guard and "The Flying Cross" pages directly on mmoc.org rather than rely on a summary.

The Oakland Police Department Drill Team Connection

The page evidence includes a reference to an "Oakland Police Department Drill Team Member" within the same section. This suggests MMOC's ceremonial activity intersects with established drill teams from California law enforcement agencies. Drill teams perform coordinated, precision riding or marching routines; for a motorcycle officers' organization, precision riding is the natural fit. The reference indicates that MMOC's Honor Guard content acknowledges or features drill-team participation rather than operating in isolation.

How to Verify Details Yourself

Because the source material is thin on specifics, treat the following as the practical route to accurate information:

  1. Go to mmoc.org.
  2. Open the MMOC Honor Guard section.
  3. Open the "The Flying Cross" entry.
  4. Check the Photo Gallery and Calendar of Events for appearances tied to the Honor Guard.
  5. For anything time-sensitive, check Latest News, since the site's homepage timestamp shows content being updated.

Expected result: you will see the Honor Guard's own description and whatever "The Flying Cross" denotes, rather than an outside summary.

Common Points of Confusion

  • Honor Guard vs. MMOC itself. MMOC is the broader nonprofit focused on traffic safety and charity; the Honor Guard is its ceremonial arm. They are not the same thing.
  • "The Flying Cross" vs. military honors. The name resembles military decoration terminology, but nothing in the available source states a military connection. Do not assume one.
  • Drill team vs. Honor Guard. The Oakland Police Department Drill Team reference is a separate entity mentioned in the same context. A drill team performs routines; an honor guard presents honors. They can appear together but are not interchangeable.

Where the Honor Guard Fits Alongside MMOC's Other Work

MMOC's charitable focus is the "Every 15 Minutes" (E15M) campaign in Southern and Northern California, and it runs events statewide to fund that goal. The Honor Guard belongs to the tradition-and-ceremony side of the organization, while E15M and traffic safety belong to its program side. Both are part of the same nonprofit, and the website presents them as parallel areas of activity.

For the most current and complete description of the Honor Guard and "The Flying Cross," the MMOC site itself remains the authoritative source.