Local & State Headlines

Community honors fallen

• A police officer is killed every two days in the United States, authorities say.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — Albany and Dougherty County officials took time Thursday to acknowledge the sacrifices made by local officers who died in the line of duty as a part of the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Day remembrance.

Gathered at eh entrance to the government center, city and county leaders, flanked by the heads of the area law enforcement agencies, paid homage to the eight officers who died serving their community.

"This is a day to respect and honor those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and their families," Albany Police Chief James Younger said. "Their sacrifices will never be forgotten."

Local leaders joined others across the country in remembering officers who have been killed or wounded while patrolling the nation's cities, Younger said.

Quoting Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address, Dougherty County Police Chief Don Cheek called the ceremony a "fit and proper" way to remember fallen officers.

"This is truly a fit and proper way to honor these officers, and on behalf of the men and women of the Dougherty County Police we want to thank their families for their sacrifice," he said.

Nationally, an officer is killed very two days, Douglas DeLeaver, the retired Chief of the Maryland Transit Authority and President of Law Enforcement Executives, said.

Serving as the ceremony's keynote speaker, DeLeaver consoled the families of fallen officers and assured them that they, like their loved ones, will be remembered.

"Our hope is to never hear the playing of taps at an officer's funeral," he said. "We can never honor them enough for the lives they gave, but we promise to look after their families and look after their memories when they're gone."

Wreaths representing all of the area law enforcement agencies were presented, and survivors of fallen officers were allowed to pin flowers to the wreaths of their respective agencies.

Of the eight officers who have died on the job in Albany and Dougherty County, the APD had the most with five, including a former chief who was killed in 1928. The Dougherty County Sheriff's Office lost two deputies in 1988 and the chief of the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport Authority died in 2003. The police force at MCLB also honored Dustin Lee, who was killed in 2006 during a mortar attack in Iraq.

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