Saturday, May 20, 2000

Slain police officers honored at memorial service

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By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Chief Thomas Streicher places flowers at the Police Memorial. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        They gathered Friday on Fountain Square, first for speeches, then for a march to a memorial honoring those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

        More than 500 uniformed police officers, relatives, friends and supporters took part in Police Memorial Day Services downtown.

        In speeches, Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher and others talked about the 47 officers killed across the country this year; about the 23,000 seriously injured every year; about the most dangerous time to be a cop: 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

        And they talked about the 104 Cincinnati officers killed since 1846. Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said he sees daily the danger that officers endure on the job.

IN MEMORIAM

A total of 104 Cincinnati officers have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1846, when a watchman was shot in what is now Washington Park, Over-the-Rhine. These 12 men were killed in the past 26 years:   • 1974: Patrolman David L. Cole, shot on Florence Avenue by a burglary suspect; Sgt. Charles F. Handorf, shot by a barricaded man on Home Avenue.   • 1975: Officer William J. Loftin, shot by a drunk on Burnet Avenue; Sgt. Robert A. Lally, shot by store owner while he was checking doors.   • 1978: Officer Charles D. Burdsall, shot by robbery suspect.   • 1979: Officers Robert Seiffert and Dennis Bennington, gunned down on Oak Street during a routine traffic stop; Officer Melvin Henze, shot by suspect in Naehr Alley.   • 1982: Officer J. Gary Weber, hit by car on River Road.   • 1987: Officer Clifford George, shot by suspect on Vine Street.   • 1997: Officer Daniel Pope and Spec. Ron Jeter, shot while trying to arrest a man on a domestic violence warrant in Clifton Heights. (Pope-Jeter Web page)

        “May we never forget the sacrifice,” he said.

        Then the group started toward the police memorial across the street from police headquarters on Ezzard Charles Drive.

        Officers pushed strollers. Children wore T-shirts that said “My Pop's a Cop!” Wives wore ribbons bearing their husbands' badge numbers.

        Up Vine Street and over Central Parkway they walked to Ezzard Charles Drive, behind Music Hall, where they stopped in front of the three black granite blocks on which dead officers' names are etched.

        There stood 23 officers-to-be, the Cincinnati recruit class graduating next month.

        They still get constant training reminders in class about the dangers of the job they're about to assume. Sometimes when they make tactical mistakes in class, they drop and do 19 push-ups — for the 19 pictures of dead officers hanging on the classroom wall.

        Valeisa George dressed her children in red, white and blue for the ceremony. It's important, she said, for Brian, 10, and Brandi, 8, to think about the job their father, Officer Shawn George, does in District 4.

        “As his wife, it's my responsibility to be here,” Mrs. George said. “And I want them to understand that we all have a responsibility.”

        Brian wants to be just like his dad.

        FOP President Keith Fangman wants everybody to understand the importance of the day. More officers, he said, are killed on Fridays than any other day.

        “Those names explain why we are so passionate about Police Memorial Day,” Mr. Fangman said, pointing to the black granite blocks that bear the names of 104 dead Cincinnati officers. “That's why.”

        The crowd prayed with a police chaplain for peace and safety, for no other names to ever be engraved in the granite.

        “But we know, deep in our hearts,” Mr. Fangman said, “that it could happen tonight.”

Appeal rejected in Officer Partin's death

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