The Kansas Highway Patrol will join with the Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) organization to observe National Police Week this week and National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day on Friday.
COPS is a national non-profit organization for families of officers lost in the line of duty, according to information from Technical Trooper Edna Buttler in the Patrol’s Topeka office.
In Topeka, the 14th annual Kansas Law Enforcement Candlelight Vigil will be held at 8:30 p.m. June 4 at the law enforcement memorial at the northeast quadrant of the Statehouse grounds.
The 27th annual Kansas Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial will be held June 5 on the second floor rotunda at the Capitol Building and at the law enforcement memorial. The ceremony will start at noon.
Three officers will be inducted to the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial this year.
• Santa Fe Railroad Special Officer Jimmie Allen Barnett was struck by a train on April 29, 1975, and died the following day.
• Sedan City Marshall A.A. Wilson was shot and killed on Aug. 3, 1899, while attempting to serve a warrant.
• Santa Fe Railroad special Officer Vernon Holzer was guarding a freight train when he was shot July 25, 1923, by a man who was trying to ride on the roof of a boxcar. Holzer died from his injuries on Aug. 21, 1923.
KHP officers will tie blue ribbons to agency-owned vehicles and encourage civilian workers to outfit their vehicles the same during the special observance to honor the officers killed in service, as well as their families.
“These ribbons serve as a way to honor and celebrate the lives of each of these officers and the work he or she has done,” KHP Superintendent Terry L. Maple was quoted as saying in a news release. “These ribbons serve as an important reminder of the ultimate sacrifice these officeers made while keeping their communities and citizens safe.”
A limited supply of official COPS ribbons will be available from many Kansas law enforcement agencies.
“If the official COPS ribbons are not available, any 18-inch strip of royal blue ribbon will show your support,” Buttler said.
Last year, 133 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty nationwide.
Among the KHP officers who will be held in memorial this year is Trooper Conroy G. O’Brien. O’Brien was shot and killed on May 24, 1978, on the Kansas Turnpike near Matfield Green after he stopped a car on a traffic violation. Three suspects in the car were apprehended after a chase, a gun battle, and a massive manhunt south of Herington.