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Local law enforcement is remembering its fallen officers and reveling in its current ones during National Police Week. GRAPHIC/ST. CLOUD POLICE
As National Police Week wraps up Sunday, local agencies are paying respects to its uniformed officers and all those who support them.
Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.
That included the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial candlelight vigil on May 13. The names of the 619 officers, including 472 lost in (319 COVID-19 related) in 2021, including with federal agencies, were read aloud during the 34th annual Vigil to memorialize those who made the ultimate sacrifice. That included Michael Riley Webb of the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office, who passed of COVID-19 related causes on Aug. 25, 2021.
National Police Week is a collaborative effort of many organizations dedicated to honoring America’s law enforcement community. In 1962, President John Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week, as established by a joint resolution of Congress.
At the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office, along with Webb, the agency remembered Deputy Troy Babin. Deputy Troy Babin, a six-year veteran of the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office, was killed in the line of duty on November 12, 1994. A pilot assigned to the Aviation Unit, Deputy Babin crashed while attempting to land a Sheriff ’s Office Cessna 206. Well respected among his peers, Deputy Babin was always willing to lend a helping hand. “Deputy Babin had a tremendous passion for flying and being a law enforcement officer,” the OCSO wrote this week. They also remember Lt. Roger Haddock, a twenty-year veteran of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, who was killed in the line of duty on March 12, 2000. Lt. Haddock was performing mounted patrol duties when his horse reared falling on top of him.
KPD also remembers Patrolman Thomas “Bart” Bartholomew, made the ultimate sacrifice on July 18, 1983. He was shot and killed while protecting a woman on a domestic disturbance call. And the beginning of the memorial week was proceeded by Friday’s capital sentencing the shooter who killed Officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard on Aug. 18, 2017.
They, along with the St. Cloud Police Department and Osceola County Corrections, honored its fallen at a joint memorial service in Kissimmee on May 4.
