The lives of 148 St. Louis police officers killed in the line of duty between 1862 and June 12, 1990, are remembered in a new book co-written by a Southeast Missouri State University professor and presented to the St. Louis police chief.
"In the Line of Duty ... St. Louis Police Officers Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice" is the title of the book co-authored by David McElreath, Southeast associate professor of criminal justice; Barbara Miksicek, St. Louis Police Department librarian, and Stephen Pollihan, St. Louis police captain.
The authors presented the book to St. Louis Police Chief Clarence Harmon Nov. 13 at a book autographing ceremony at the St. Louis Police Department.
The book contains black-and-white photos and a summary of how each of the 148 officers were killed since the St. Louis Police Department's inception in 1861.
"You've got so many thousands of people in St. Louis who have been police officers and friends and relatives of policemen over the years," McElreath said. "Through the book you can personally relate to each one of them. You've got about 150 people who have died doing their job up there."
Miksicek said the book is appealing in that it portrays the deceased officers as "more real, more human." Readers can see how the officers made a mistake in the line of duty, she said.
"They don't just see them in a harsh light," Miksicek said. The book "shows what they were willing to do for the general public. It shows they were willing to die.
"The deaths between 1863 and 1920 are very interesting because of the way policing was done then," she said. "The circumstances had never been collected before. You get this kind of historical perspective."
The book is the compilation of three similar projects begun independently by each of the authors over the past few years.
McElreath said he was at the St. Louis Police Department about two years ago on liaison work when a plaque outside the chief's office caught his eye. The plaque contained the names of each St. Louis police officer killed in the line of duty. The plaque, McElreath said, sparked his interest in researching the story behind each death.
"I'm very interested in criminal justice history," he said.
McElreath assigned one of his students, John Follmer, who now is a St. Louis police officer, to begin researching the officers, mostly through newspaper clippings.
Tim Pulley, a Southeast graduate who studied criminal justice, and Chad Montabon, a Southeast criminal justice major, also contributed to the research.
McElreath said he met Miksicek while researching the officers at the St. Louis Police Department Library. Miksicek already had begun similar research and also knew of Pollihan's efforts in the area.
Pollihan had begun researching the officer's deaths as an assignment as assistant to the chief. Pollihan was charged with collecting photos of the fallen officers for a planned wall of honor in an officer's gallery at the police department.
The three learned of each other's interest and joined forces to write the book, McElreath said.
The 320-page hardbound book, published by the St. Louis Police Department, sells for $20; $23 by mail order. The book is being sold at five outlets within the St. Louis Police Department, in area bookstores, and at Books & Things on the Southeast campus.
Proceeds from the book will be used to maintain the memorial statue in the Civil Courts Building Plaza at Market and Tucker streets in St. Louis. The statue depicts a police officer in solemn reverence for his fallen comrades. The bronze statue was created by internationally known sculptor Rudolph Torrini.
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