The Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial service will be held on May 20, 2016 at 10:00am at the DPS Headquarters in Oklahoma City. This is the 48th year of the service. This year’s host is the Oklahoma State Lodge FOP and the keynote speaker is Chief of Highway Patrol Rick Adams.
Those on the Roll Call of Heroes are:
Timothy E. Lowry, Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office…………2011
Michael D. Roberts, Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office……….2011
Mitchell D. Weeks, McAlester Police Department…………………..2012
Brian E. Hayden, Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office………………….2012
Jeffery M. McCoy, Oklahoma Department of Corrections……..…2012
William C. Coen, Harper County Sheriff’s Office……………………..2012
Kelley A. Chase, Oklahoma City Police Department…………………2012
Mayra Ramirez-Barreto, Puerto Rico Department of Justice….…2013
Eliezer Colon-Claussells, Puerto Rico Department of Corrections..2013
Douglas L. Hanna, Washita County Sheriff’s Office…..………..……2013
David E. Allford, Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office…………….……..2013
Brian Beck, Washita County Sheriff’s Office………..…………..……..2014
Kristian D. Willhight, Burns Flat Police Department…………….…….2014
Terry B. Fisher, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office…………………..2014
Gary G. Garrison, Canadian County Sheriff’s Office…………………2014
Nicholas G. Dees, Oklahoma Highway Patrol………………..……….2015
The memorial recently added a new granite stone for 155 fallen officers from the past. Honoring these officers on the memorial is long overdue, but until recently the OLEM did not have the space or the funds to have their names engraved. This total number of names on the memorial exceeds 800 names.
Nine (9) law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in Oklahoma will be among the two hundred and fifty-two (252) new names to be engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. Those names will be dedicated during the 28th Annual Candle Light Vigil the evening of May 13, 2016.
Officers being added from Oklahoma are:
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Nicholas G. Dees killed January 31, 2015
Osage County Deputy Sheriff James E. Fields who died April 14, 1961
P. Trentham of the Hobart Police Department was shot July 27, 1930,
Pottawatomie County Deputy Sheriff James R. Lindsey was accidently shot and killed November 14, 1926
Special Agent for the St. Louis & San Frisco Railroad Police Samuel E. Adair was killed May 3,1922
Special Agent for the St. Louis & San Frisco Railroad Police Charles E. Chitwood was killed July 26, 1920;
Special Agent for the St. Louis & San Frisco Railroad Police Boss Huffman was killed March 12, 1918
Bennington City Marshal James E. Parish was shot and killed July 23, 1912
Pottawatomie County Deputy Sheriff Will Turner was shot and killed on April 27, 1895
For more information on these officers and the other almost eight hundred officers who have died in the line of duty in Oklahoma, both before and after statehood, go to the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial web site at www.oklemem.com.
Additionally, the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association has added a web page on the OLEM under our User References section, found here, with more information.
