I’ve got a lump in my throat right now.
I find it hard as I write this column not to shed tears for the police officers across the country who died in the line of duty this year, which as of this writing, that number stands at 116 according to the Officer Down Memorial Page at odmp.org. Of the 116, 36 of those died by gunfire. The worst month this year for law enforcement was in May with 17 lost.
In every online article I read about these officers and countless others, I went away learning a little about their personal lives.
New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton called Officer Brian Moore, 25, who was shot and killed on May 2 while questioning an individual, “a hero of the city, a guardian at the gate of the city and now a guardian angel in Heaven.”
“He (Moore) dreamed of getting the bad guys off the street. He wanted to make a difference,” Bratton said.
Moore, who was a devoted Baltimore Orioles baseball fan and came from a family of police officers, loved acting out songs on the radio videotaping himself for his friends.
NYPD chaplain Robert Romano was quoted by CNN saying "We might ask ourselves: 'Where was God last Saturday?' I could tell you he was in a young man named Brian who accepted a call, a vocation. Just like we priests have a vocation, Brian had a vocation. A vocation to be a peacemaker and to be a hero. Brian, like so many of his sisters and brothers, ran always into the trouble, not away from it."
Officer Benjamin Joseph Deen, 34, who leaves behind wife, Robin, and two children, Melah, 12 and Walker, 9, was named Hattiesburg Police Department Officer of the Year in 2012 for rescuing a man from a burning building, according to a spokesperson for the Deen family according to the Los Angeles Times.
“The two things that really summed him up as far as a person, he (Deen) didn’t go anywhere without his family, ever,” said the spokesperson who asked not to be identified. “The day before he went on shift and passed away, he had just been out with his son – they were out target shooting with each other – he was boasting, he was proud of his son. ... He was honestly a friend to everyone he met, he loved serving his community, he loved being a cop.”
Officer Liqouri Tate, 25, also of the Hattiesburg Police Department, couldn’t contain his excitement last June on Facebook upon graduating from the police academy.
"I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love ones," Tate wrote on social media, who worked at auto parts stores for years before becoming an officer according to his father, Ronald.
“He had this enthusiasm, this fire in his soul,” Tate’s father told CNN who said that didn’t mean he didn’t realize he was putting his life danger being a police officer. "He really knew the risk. But I think my son just thought people are generally good, and that's just the way he was. He thought people are generally good people, so let's treat them all with dignity."
Officers Deen and Tate were shot and killed May 9 during a traffic stop on a vehicle occupied by three suspects.
During her time off, Detective Kerrie Orozco, 29, a seven-year veteran of the Omaha Police Department, coached baseball at the North Omaha Boys and Girls Club, volunteered with Special Olympics and was a Girl Scout Leader according to a Facebook page set up by the Omaha Police Department.
She was one day away from taking maternity leave to care for her newborn daughter, Olivia Ruth, born on Feb. 27 this year, when she was shot and killed May 20 when she and fellow officers of the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant on a suspect wanted in a September 2014 shooting. In addition to her daughter, Orozco is survived by her husband, Hector, and two step children, Natalie and Santiago.
“She (Kerrie) got people to look past the fact that she was a police officer,” said Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer. “I see her legacy as that of breaking down barriers.”
Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth, 47, of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas recently bought Captain America T-shirts for himself and his 5-year-old son, Ryan, in August. Both shirts were still unworn at the time Goforth was ambushed while pumping gas in his patrol car in Cypress on Aug. 28.
In a story by CNN, Ryan wore his shirt underneath his suit jacket at his father’s funeral. Goforth was also buried in his T-shirt as well underneath his uniform. The story, which got national attention started a Facebook campaign encouraging people to wear Captain America T-shirts to honor Goforth and his son. Sept. 11 was the date set for Goforth’s Captain America Day.
“Today, we remember both the attack on America & our fallen brother,” was among the tweets posted by #UnitedWeGoforth.
In an open letter, Goforth’s wife, Kathleen, wrote describing her husband as “an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility. He was loyal…fiercely so. And he was ethical; the right thing to do is what guided his internal compass. I admired this quality, perhaps, the most. For that is what made Darren good. And he was good. So, if people want to know what kind of man he was… This is it. He was who you wanted for a friend, a colleague, and a neighbor.”
The latest casualty to die in the line of duty was Officer Garrett Swasey, 44, of Colorado Springs, on Nov. 27. Swasey was among three killed when a gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic ten miles from the University of Colorado Springs where he worked.
“He (Swasey) might not be in alignment with the abortion industry, but he’d be willing to go in and lay down his life for those people, and that’s just the testimony to me of the kind of man that he is. Not just courageous, but Christlike,” said Swasey’s church co-pastor Scott Dontanville where Swasey was an elder at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs. “He would want us to forgive this man (the gunman) and to go on with our lives.”
Before becoming a police officer, Swasey, who leaves behind wife, Rachel, daughter Faith, 6, and Elijah, 11, trained for six years at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the 1990s and was the 1992 junior ice dance champion who teamed with Christine Fowler-Binder in their second year together according to U.S. Figure Skating.
"Garrett was selfless, always there to help me, always my wingman," Fowler-Binder said. "He was my brother and my partner. I could always count on him.”
Two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan spoke of her childhood years with Swasey.
"We were together a lot as children," Kerrigan told the Boston Herald. "I would ride my bike to his house and we'd hang out at the pool. We were together all the time, whether skating or not. I called him 'Ugh'; he called me 'Yuck.' We were always teasing each other like a brother and sister."
“How they put their lives on the line day in and day out for us, and too often they’re slandered by the media and politicians,” King said.
Or what Commissioner Bratton said at Moore’s funeral last May.
“For police officers across the country, we’re increasingly bearing the brunt of loud criticism. We cannot be defined by that criticism,” Bratton said. “Because what is lost in the shouting and the rhetoric is the context of what we do. A handful of recent incidents, fewer than a dozen, have wrongfully come to define the hundreds of millions of interactions cops have every year.”
People should do what Omaha Police Chief Schmaderer said at Detective Orozco’s funeral.
“If you have a hard time resonating with the police, think of Kerrie because she resonates with everyone. For her legacy the next time you see an Omaha police officer, maybe they’re eating dinner, maybe they’re in your rearview mirror, so after you check your speedometer, I want you to look back. I want you to look back past the cruiser. Look past this uniform. Look past the badge and see Kerrie, see a little bit of Kerrie in that officer because there is a little bit of Kerrie in all of us. There are a lot of police officers that do a lot of good that give back to the community in so many ways.”
©12/2/15
I find it hard as I write this column not to shed tears for the police officers across the country who died in the line of duty this year, which as of this writing, that number stands at 116 according to the Officer Down Memorial Page at odmp.org. Of the 116, 36 of those died by gunfire. The worst month this year for law enforcement was in May with 17 lost.
In every online article I read about these officers and countless others, I went away learning a little about their personal lives.
“He (Moore) dreamed of getting the bad guys off the street. He wanted to make a difference,” Bratton said.
Moore, who was a devoted Baltimore Orioles baseball fan and came from a family of police officers, loved acting out songs on the radio videotaping himself for his friends.
NYPD chaplain Robert Romano was quoted by CNN saying "We might ask ourselves: 'Where was God last Saturday?' I could tell you he was in a young man named Brian who accepted a call, a vocation. Just like we priests have a vocation, Brian had a vocation. A vocation to be a peacemaker and to be a hero. Brian, like so many of his sisters and brothers, ran always into the trouble, not away from it."
“The two things that really summed him up as far as a person, he (Deen) didn’t go anywhere without his family, ever,” said the spokesperson who asked not to be identified. “The day before he went on shift and passed away, he had just been out with his son – they were out target shooting with each other – he was boasting, he was proud of his son. ... He was honestly a friend to everyone he met, he loved serving his community, he loved being a cop.”
"I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love ones," Tate wrote on social media, who worked at auto parts stores for years before becoming an officer according to his father, Ronald.
“He had this enthusiasm, this fire in his soul,” Tate’s father told CNN who said that didn’t mean he didn’t realize he was putting his life danger being a police officer. "He really knew the risk. But I think my son just thought people are generally good, and that's just the way he was. He thought people are generally good people, so let's treat them all with dignity."
Officers Deen and Tate were shot and killed May 9 during a traffic stop on a vehicle occupied by three suspects.
She was one day away from taking maternity leave to care for her newborn daughter, Olivia Ruth, born on Feb. 27 this year, when she was shot and killed May 20 when she and fellow officers of the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant on a suspect wanted in a September 2014 shooting. In addition to her daughter, Orozco is survived by her husband, Hector, and two step children, Natalie and Santiago.
“She (Kerrie) got people to look past the fact that she was a police officer,” said Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer. “I see her legacy as that of breaking down barriers.”
In a story by CNN, Ryan wore his shirt underneath his suit jacket at his father’s funeral. Goforth was also buried in his T-shirt as well underneath his uniform. The story, which got national attention started a Facebook campaign encouraging people to wear Captain America T-shirts to honor Goforth and his son. Sept. 11 was the date set for Goforth’s Captain America Day.
“Today, we remember both the attack on America & our fallen brother,” was among the tweets posted by #UnitedWeGoforth.
In an open letter, Goforth’s wife, Kathleen, wrote describing her husband as “an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility. He was loyal…fiercely so. And he was ethical; the right thing to do is what guided his internal compass. I admired this quality, perhaps, the most. For that is what made Darren good. And he was good. So, if people want to know what kind of man he was… This is it. He was who you wanted for a friend, a colleague, and a neighbor.”
“He (Swasey) might not be in alignment with the abortion industry, but he’d be willing to go in and lay down his life for those people, and that’s just the testimony to me of the kind of man that he is. Not just courageous, but Christlike,” said Swasey’s church co-pastor Scott Dontanville where Swasey was an elder at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs. “He would want us to forgive this man (the gunman) and to go on with our lives.”
Before becoming a police officer, Swasey, who leaves behind wife, Rachel, daughter Faith, 6, and Elijah, 11, trained for six years at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the 1990s and was the 1992 junior ice dance champion who teamed with Christine Fowler-Binder in their second year together according to U.S. Figure Skating.
"Garrett was selfless, always there to help me, always my wingman," Fowler-Binder said. "He was my brother and my partner. I could always count on him.”
Two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan spoke of her childhood years with Swasey.
"We were together a lot as children," Kerrigan told the Boston Herald. "I would ride my bike to his house and we'd hang out at the pool. We were together all the time, whether skating or not. I called him 'Ugh'; he called me 'Yuck.' We were always teasing each other like a brother and sister."
These are the individuals and countless others in law enforcement whose tales of heroism and good deeds should be reported about on a daily basis instead of the stories of officers indicted in wrongful death cases against the African-American community that spawned riots, and who are often times acquitted or rightfully charged and sentenced.I meant what I said when I wrote in a column a few weeks ago about how there are three times more good officers than bad. If you don’t want to take my word for it, then heed the words, for example, of what Republican Congressman Peter King said at Moore’s funeral last May of how unfortunate it is that it takes such tragedies to reminds us all what outstanding jobs law enforcement do.
“How they put their lives on the line day in and day out for us, and too often they’re slandered by the media and politicians,” King said.
Or what Commissioner Bratton said at Moore’s funeral last May.
“For police officers across the country, we’re increasingly bearing the brunt of loud criticism. We cannot be defined by that criticism,” Bratton said. “Because what is lost in the shouting and the rhetoric is the context of what we do. A handful of recent incidents, fewer than a dozen, have wrongfully come to define the hundreds of millions of interactions cops have every year.”
People should do what Omaha Police Chief Schmaderer said at Detective Orozco’s funeral.
“If you have a hard time resonating with the police, think of Kerrie because she resonates with everyone. For her legacy the next time you see an Omaha police officer, maybe they’re eating dinner, maybe they’re in your rearview mirror, so after you check your speedometer, I want you to look back. I want you to look back past the cruiser. Look past this uniform. Look past the badge and see Kerrie, see a little bit of Kerrie in that officer because there is a little bit of Kerrie in all of us. There are a lot of police officers that do a lot of good that give back to the community in so many ways.”
©12/2/15
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