"Engraving Day"

The 2010 Police Unity Tour donation was earmarked for the restoration of the National Law Enforcement Memorial. The nearly 19,000 names engraved on the Memorial were starting to show their age, so the entire Memorial has been re-engraved and a new process developed for the 316 names that were added in 2011.

With so many new names to add, the process takes several days, but every spring, the National Law Enforcement Memorial has an official Engraving Day, honoring a member of the local law enforcement community. This year the honoree was Maryland State Trooper Wesley Brown. A ceremony was held at the Memorial on April 27, attended by friends, family and co-workers of Trooper Brown.

Of the remaining 315 names, many are historical names. The names added for 2010 however, are too many, up significantly from the near record low of 117 in 2009. In reviewing the names of those who died in 2010 for a slide show I put together for a fundraising event, I was struck by the tragedy and the tenacity of four Officers who succumbed to injuries inflicted in the past: Maylond Bishop of Guntervsille AL was shot and paralyzed in 1993; Orange County CA Sheriff's Lt. Ira Esso was shot and paralyzed in 1980; Missoula MT Officer Robert Heinle was shot and paralyzed in 1998 and Forest Hill TX Officer Timothy Zurovetz, who was injured on duty in 1981.

Another thing that struck me while going trough the names of those killed in 2010 was that the trend of multiple officers being killed by a single assailant on a single call continues. Mishawaka IN Corporal James Szuba and his K-9 partner Ricky were killed by a drunk driver. Puerto Rico Dept. of Natural Resources Rangers Kenneth Omar Betancourt-Camacho and Felix Rodriquez-Gomez were shot and killed by trespassers at one of their facilities. West Memphis AR Sergeant Robert Brandon Paudert and Officer William Evans were shot and killed during a traffic stop. The suspects were later killed after engaging in further gunfire with an Arkansas Game & Fish Officer. Hoonah AK Police Sgt. Anthony Wallace was on patrol with his visiting mother as a ride-along, when he came under fire from a man in a near-by house. Officer Matthew Tokuoka, who was not on duty at the time, but visiting with family a few houses away, heard the shots and went to Wallace's aid. Wallace died on August 28th and Tokuoka died early the next day. The suspect barricaded himself in his house and was ultimately arrested following a lengthy stand-off and state-wide response. The suspect killed half the Hoonah Police department in one attack.

This trend of multiple-officer fatalities has not slacked, but increased in the new year, so for my brothers & sisters in blue: Stay Safe.