Law enforcement officers from across the local area and country paused from their duties Friday afternoon to pay respects for 7 officers who have died in the line of duty in the past week. A total of 9 officers have been killed in the past month. Ten officers have been killed this year. Of those 10, 8 died from gunfire, 1 died in a motor vehicle accident and 1 died in an airplane crash.
Officers paused for a moment of silence at exactly 1:00 PMFriday. Among the departments participating was the Apex Police Department. Police Chief John Letteney said, “It has been a deadly week in American law enforcement. Today, we join thousands of officers from across the nation at this very moment as we support the initiative of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs Association, as well as our fallen officers and their agencies. We take this opportunity now to remember those police officers who have sacrificed their lives in the last 25 days in service to their communities, 8 of whom were slain by gunfire, seven in the last seven days.”
The officers remembered and honored Friday included:
Officer Thomas Cottrell, Jr. – Danville, Ohio Police Department – killed January 17, 2016
Officer Scott Barney, II – Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, Utah – killed January 17, 2016
Sergeant Jason Goodding, Seaside, Oregon Police Department- killed February 5, 2016
Deputy Sheriff Scott Ballantyne and James Chavez – Tulare County, California Sheriff’s Office – killed February 10, 2016
Deputy Sheriff Derek Geer – Mesa County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office – killed February 10, 2016
Senior Deputy Mark Logsdon – Harford County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office – killed February 10, 2016
Senior Deputy Patrick Dailey – Harford County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office – killed February 10, 2016
Officer Jason Moszer – Fargo, North Dakota Police Department – killed February 11, 2016
Major Greg Barney – Riverdale, Georgia Police Department – killed February 11, 2016
In addition, eight law enforcement K-9’s have been killed in the line of duty in 2016.
Approximately 20,000 US law enforcement officers have been killed while protecting the citizens of our country.
