As we get ready to celebrate Mothers Day, I am drawn to another very important day that several hundred thousand people will observe. This will be a day of mourning, a day we honor those that sacrificed them selves to protect others.
Each year Police Officers loose their life in the Line of Duty and each year we honor them on May 15th which has been designated as National Peace Officers Memorial Day. The week that the 15th falls in has been designated as Police Week and there are many events are scheduled in Washington DC , and more often than not that week starts on Mothers Day.
While some say that it should be changed, I have spoken with the mother of a Fallen Hero and she has said that she would not have it any other way. Yes it is painful for her, but she remembers not only her loving son, but the way in which he lived his life.
My last post touched on four Fallen Hero’s from Oakland, California who were going to be laid to rest after being killed in the line of duty. I cried during the typing of that post and I will cry before I am done typing this one.
Whenever I hear of a brother or sister killed while serving the public I think of Romans 13:1-4 which says “1 Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. (the Lord has appoint those to act as guardians over us)
2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. (the Lord will judge all of us! Some will receive eternal damnation others will walk a beat on Heavens street.)
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. (We {Peace Officers} do not want you to fear us or tell your kids we are the boogie man.)
4 For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.” (Authority has been placed over us by God!)
This year there are 134 mothers will not have the chance to ever hold their child again. Officer Nicola Cotton was 8 weeks pregnant when she was shot 15 times by a rape suspect that she was attempting to arrest. She is but one of the 12 female officers that lost there life during 2008. A total of 36 states, the Virgin Islands and the Federal Government all suffered losses in 2008. Jesus tells us in John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
I do not know the relationship that any of these men and woman have with our Father, but I do ask that you remember their families in your prayers, lift them up and ask the Lord to show Himself to them and to reveal his plan to them.
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Detective James Merry Walker |
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Deputy Sheriff Anthony (Sean) Pursifull |
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Deputy Constable David Joubert Sr. |
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Police Officer Eric Cecil Barker Sr. |
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Police Officer Ricky L. Bryant Jr. |
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Detective Jarrod Brent Shivers |
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Senior Border Patrol Agent Luis Alberto Aguilar |
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Police Officer Matthew Barret Thebeau |
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Police Officer Akeem Basil (Teddy) Newton |
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Detective Christopher Alexander Ridley |
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Trooper Daniel Roy Barrett |
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Police Officer Nicola Diane Cotton |
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Lance Corporal James Darryl Haynes |
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Sergeant Richard C. LeBow |
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Deputy Sheriff Dustin Shawn Duncan |
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Police Officer Thomas Frederick (Tom) Ballman |
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Sergeant William King Biggs Jr. |
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Police Officer Randal D. (Randy) Simmons |
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Corporal Harry Lane Thielepape Jr. |
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Senior Corporal Victor Antonio Lozada Sr. |
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Police Officer Mark A. Beck |
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Trooper Kara M. Kelly-Borgognone |
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Police Officer Derek Wayne Owens |
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Captain Keith Paul Chiasson |
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Police Officer James Dean Fezatte |
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Deputy Sheriff Paul William Derouen |
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Border Patrol Agent Jarod C. Dittman |
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Constable Joe E. Howard Sr. |
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Correction Officer Kenneth Michael Duncan |
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Police Officer Ralph McMoran |
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Trooper James Scott Burns |
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Deputy Sheriff Robert Armand Griffin |
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Senior Investigator Laura Jean Cleaves |
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Deputy Sheriff William Howell Jr. |
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Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski |
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Special Agent Aaron Garcia |
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Deputy Sheriff James Edward Throne |
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Deputy Sheriff Michael Sean Thomas |
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Sergeant Leslie Eugene (Les) Wilmott |
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Lieutenant Michael C. Avilucea |
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Police Officer Erik David Hite |
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Police Officer Everett William Dennis |
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Deputy Sheriff Anthony Shane Tate |
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Police Officer Todd Allen Bahr |
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Sergeant Barbara Leggett Shumate |
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Deputy Sheriff Steven Christopher Boehm |
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Deputy Sheriff Jose Antonio (Tony) Diaz |
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Trooper David Shawn Blanton Jr. |
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Correctional Officer Jose Rivera |
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Police Officer Nicholas Karl Heine |
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Sergeant Richard Scott Findley |
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Police Officer Gary Allen Gryder |
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Police Officer Richard M. Francis |
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Police Officer Kenneth (Greg) Surles |
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Agent Osvaldo Pérez-León |
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Police Officer Joshua T. Miktarian |
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Police Officer Andrew Allen Widman |
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Deputy Sheriff Anthony E. Forgione |
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Police Officer Aldo A. Rossi Jr. |
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Deputy Sheriff Juan A. Escalante |
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Trooper Shawn W. Snow |
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Detective Sandra Joyce Bullock |
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Deputy Sheriff Dennis Carl Compton |
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Officer Monte Ruby |
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Agent Orlando Gonzalez-Ortiz |
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Detective Michael Smith Phillips |
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Lieutenant Michael Patrick Howe |
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Deputy Probation Officer Irene Beatrice Rios |
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Lieutenant Robert James Curry |
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Sergeant Nelson Kai Ng |
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Deputy Sheriff Martha Ann Woods-Shareef |
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Ordinance Officer Kathy Ann Cox |
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Police Officer Thomas Emil Raji |
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Police Officer Melvin Eugene Dyer |
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Police Officer Timothy Allen Haley |
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Trooper Evan Frederick Schneider |
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Special Agent Thomas Joseph Byrne |
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Deputy Sheriff Anne Marie Jackson |
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Officer Christopher Kane |
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Police Officer Isabel Nazario |
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Police Officer Kenneth A. Santucci |
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Deputy Sheriff Marty Michael Martin |
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Sergeant Paul Avery Starzyk |
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Trooper Andrew James Stocks |
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Sergeant Dario Scott Aponte |
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Police Officer Grant Anthony Jansen |
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Police Officer III Spree Desha |
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Sergeant Michael Christopher Weigand Jr. |
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Detective Tommy L. Keen |
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Deputy Sheriff Adam William Klutz |
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Officer Kristine Marie Fairbanks |
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Sergeant Patrick McDonald |
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Staff Sergeant Steven Raul Medeiros |
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Police Officer Nathaniel Taylor Jr. |
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Trooper First Class Mickey Charles Lippy |
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Sergeant Robert Craig Douglas |
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Correctional Officer Douglas Eugene Falconer |
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Correctional Officer Rodney Kelley |
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Police Officer Bradley Alan Moody |
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Deputy Sheriff David Whitfield Gilstrap Jr. |
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Game Warden George Harold Whatley Jr. |
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Officer / Paramedic Bruce Wesley Harrolle |
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Deputy Sheriff Sarah Irene Haylett-Jones |
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Police Officer David Donald Tome |
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Police Officer Richard Mark Bremer |
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Deputy Sheriff Randy Jay Hamson |
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Second Lieutenant Francis Joseph (Frank) Stecco |
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Police Officer Shane Cory Figueroa |
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Sergeant Michael R. King |
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Police Officer Frank Paul Russo |
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Detective Joseph M. Airhart Jr. |
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Police Officer Nathaniel Michael Burnfield |
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Police Officer Charles Benjamin Skinner |
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Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Wilhelm Canfield |
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Sergeant Darrell (Monty) Carmikle |
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Sergeant Timothy Simpson |
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Special Agent Samuel Steele Hicks |
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Police Officer Alex Del Rio |
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Deputy Sheriff Nick P. Pham |
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Sheriff Steven Brent Lee Sr. |
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Police Officer Robert A. Davis |
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Police Officer Timothy Scott Abernethy |
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Deputy Sheriff Brian DeWayne Denning |
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Senior Trooper William Robert Hakim |
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Captain Thomas Paul Tennant |
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Officer Joseph Paul Sanders |
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Police Officer Mark Steven Simmons |
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Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Keith Carter |
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Deputy Sheriff William Kenneth Chadwell |
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Sergeant Marc Charles Wilbur |
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Public Safety Officer Mason James Samborski |
A Deputy’s Prayer
Dear Lord I pray to you,
Give me the strength to make it through.
Grant me the wisdom and courage I will need,
For all of this I do plead.
Please watch over me on this shift,
Bless me with Your special gift.
For my friends and family I do care,
All of this You are aware.
Give them the knowledge if I don’t come home,
With them in Heaven I will roam.
Amen
© Roy D. Polmanteer 1996
Filed under: Jesus, Law Enforcement, Life | Tagged: Life
Thomas Frederick Ballman was shot dead in the line of duty. He was in the media at the time for the two kidnapped boys did reunite with their parents. Auf Wiedersehen, Tom.