May 15 is recognized as National Law Enforcement Memorial Day, and on Wednesday officers and families from the county’s four law enforcement agencies — the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Osceola County Corrections, Kissimmee Police Department, and St. Cloud Police Department — assembled at the Kissimmee Civic Center to remember and honor their comrades fallen in the line of duty over the years.
The guest speaker was Andrew “Drew” Hazlett, who received Kissimmee Police Department Sgt. Sam Howard’s donated heart after Howard died in the line of duty in August 2017. Howard, along with Officer Matthew Baxter, was ambushed, shot, and killed. Everett Miller was convicted of the murders in 2019 and awaits a death sentence.
“Sergeant Howard is my hero, and the community’s hero,” said Hazlett. “I thank him, and his family, for the gift of life that was given to me,” he continued.
Members of Howard’s family, along with Officer Baxter’s widow Sadia Baxter and their daughters Zarah, Sophia, and Isabella, were present at the ceremony.
Then, law enforcement officers from each agency placed a single blue flower into a wreath of black and white flowers resembling the American flag while the names of each of the nine members of the county’s law enforcement community who fell in the line of duty were read. Next, a red rose was placed for each of the 24 officers who died in non-line of duty deaths. Wreaths representing each of the four agencies flanked the stage.
Fortunately, no officers in the county died in the line of duty in 2023, continuing the trend from 2022. The last line of duty death occurring among the county’s four agencies was Deputy Michael Webb, of the Osceola Sheriff’s Office, in August 2021. Since 1933, nine members of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Kissimmee Police Department, and the St. Cloud Police Department have died doing a job to protect and serve the public. Two dozen others, also encompassing the Osceola County Corrections Department, have passed in non-line of duty deaths.
Next, a symbolic “10-7- Last Call” from a dispatcher at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department was heard over a law enforcement radio channel, and then a 21-gun salute was fired outside of the Civic Center. To close the ceremony, “Echoing Taps” was played by Christina Done and Victoria Ortiz-Nanez from the Osceola School for the Arts, and “Amazing Grace” was performed on the bagpipes by Bob Cunningham from the Kissimmee Police Department.
The Osceola law enforcement community’s solemn annual ceremony usually takes place in the Osceola County Courthouse courtyard, where a black granite Law Enforcement Memorial was erected in May 2021. Forecasted inclement weather moved this year’s ceremony into the Civic Center, a good call as the rumble of thunder was heard during the ceremony as rain showers swept over Kissimmee Wednesday morning.
Nationally, there is good news that the trend in law enforcement deaths trended again in 2023, with 136 law enforcement officers dying in the line of duty. While each death is tragic, the 2023 figure represents a 39 percent decline from the 224 officers lost in 2022. Of the 136 fatalities in 2023, 47 were shot, 37 died from traffic-related events, and 52 from other causes, including aircraft crashes, and falls and drowning while assisting in emergency situations.
