Honoring Fallen Law Enforcement Officers, May 5

The State’s Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. This annual event, open to the public, is held at the Memorial located on the campus of the Oregon Public Safety Academy at 4190 Aumsville Highway SE in Salem. Governor Kate Brown will be in attendance and our keynote speaker is Brenda Donner, NW Region Trustee, National Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.). During this year’s ceremony, the name of Marshal Joseph Krechter of St. Paul, Oregon will be added to the state’s Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Memorial. His name will be the 181st on the memorial that honors fallen Oregon law enforcement officers (police, corrections, and parole and probation) who have died in the line of duty since the first was recorded in the 1880s. During the course of research on fallen peace officers from the past, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department came upon the story of Joseph Krechter, a Marshal for the City of St. Paul, who was gunned down while breaking up a bar room brawl in September 1906. His addition to the state memorial, through the historic recognition process, was unanimously approved through the historic recognition process by the Board on Public Safety Standards and Training and its Police Policy Committee. Please note the name of Deputy Gil Datan of the Coos County Sheriff’s Office who died while riding an ATV on forest patrol just a few days ago will not be added during this year’s ceremony. His death will be included at remarks made at the event but his name will be officially engraved and added during the 2016 memorial ceremony. The memorial honors the sacrifices made by law enforcement officers across Oregon and the families and co-workers they left behind. It includes city, county, state, tribal and federal officers who work in law enforcement, corrections and parole and probation.