Honoring police officers killed in the line of duty has come into sharp focus with the deaths of Hattiesburg Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate on Saturday.
Friday is 51st National Peace Officers Memorial Day.
For Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks, the week has been filled with a lot of memories.
“I lost an officer, Deputy Paul ‘Buster’ Brown, back on April 18, 1994,” the sheriff said.
While escorting a woman back to her home following a domestic dispute, Brown was ambushed by the woman’s husband, who shot and killed him, Banks said. The husband also shot his wife, but she survived.
Such a loss affects a lot of people, Banks said: “It affects the family, the department. It just takes a hold of you.”
Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore also has thought about his fallen comrades this week, which has included the candlelight memorial at the Mississippi Fallen Officers Memorial wall in Jackson on Tuesday.
“These officers gave everything,” he said. That’s something that people need to remember.
“People need to know that when that officer puts on that badge in the morning, there’s no guarantee that they’re coming home,” Moore said.
The FBI reported that 51 law enforcement officers were killed in 2014 compared to 27 in 2013.
“Right now, Mississippi is leading the nation in officers killed in the line of duty,” Moore said.
He said the state has lost five officers who were based or lived in the state, including U.S. Marshal Josie Wells, who was working in Louisiana on March 10 when he was fatally shot.
On Tuesday in Jackson, the state Department of Public Safety paid tribute to 32 troopers lost in the line of duty.
Dee Dee and Cliff Thach attend the ceremony every year. Cliff’s father, Trooper Carl M. Thach, was killed by a drunk driver in January 1954.
This year, the Thaches took their granddaughter, Sarah Douglas Thach, 6.
Dee Dee Thach said it’s important to remember the dedication of law enforcement officers.
“It’s always an emotional ceremony,” she said.
Banks said law enforcement officers are a special breed.
“It takes a special kind of person because the pay is not good,” he said.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
