Memorial ceremony honors area fallen police officers

Cape Girardeau Police Department assistant chief Jack Wimp welcomed scores of attendees to the annual Seniors and Lawmen Together memorial ceremony Thursday by asking them to remember fallen officers as they lived.

To remember officers who died in the line of duty as husbands and mothers and siblings, Wimp said, is to appreciate the enormity of their sacrifice.

The SALT memorial paid tribute to 49 officers from Southeast Missouri who have died in the line of duty since 1875.

The ceremony included the schoolchildren winners of an essay contest on the topic “Police — Our Heroes” reading their compositions.

“The things you do for our country are incredible,” Landon Burnett, 9, wrote. “Nobody will ever forget the police officers that passed away.”

Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Parson delivers the keynote speech Thursday during the 2017 Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony at Cape Bible Chapel in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

“Police also can help anyone, anytime, anywhere,” Alex Austin, 12, wrote. “Police help anyone no matter the race, religion or gender of the people they are protecting.”

Keynote speaker Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Parson said while the memorial service was about those who sacrificed in the line of duty, those sacrifices themselves were for children like Burnett, Austin and others.

“You’re preparing for the next generation,” he said, encouraging the young people to help “change the attitude toward law enforcement in this country,” which he said has become more adversarial.

“If our nation turns our back on law enforcement, [it] will be the worst mistake we ever make in our lives,” he said.

Parson, a former military police officer and Polk County sheriff, said his time in law enforcement taught him the importance of sacrifice.

“I’m not here to make you sad. ... These gentlemen lived like nobody else. They set the example for everyone else, and their memory lives as an example,” he said. “It’s high time we stand up for our law-enforcement officials.”

The ceremony included the presentation of flowers for each of the 49 officers.

One of the flowers was presented by Edna Cross of Jackson, whose nephew Sgt. Carl D. Graham of the Missouri State Highway Patrol was shot and killed in 2005.

“It means so much to me to keep their memory alive,” said Cross, a member of SALT. “We’ve got to stand behind these wonderful men. They’re our heroes; they’re our hope for peace and also the good Lord.”

Wimp closed the ceremony with troubling statistics, indicating an increase in violent deaths among law-enforcement officers in 2016, which Wimp called a “significant spike.”

“Law enforcement is at war,” he said, but encouraged officers. “Keep doing what you’re doing, but stay safe.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

Cape Bible Chapel, Cape Girardeau, Mo.