An honor guard fired rifles, piercing the quiet late Thursday morning air, as a crowd of dozens observed outside the Clark County Public Service Center in downtown Vancouver.
The final gunshot cued Clark County sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Mike Evans to begin playing a somber version of taps on the trumpet.
It was fitting in a year that saw a single local law enforcement fatality in the slaying of sheriff’s tracking dog Kane that both honors were accompanied by vigorous barking from the several police dogs in attendance.
A crowd of police officers, family members of fallen officers and attorneys gathered to pay tribute to those sworn officers and police dogs killed in the line of duty.
The annual law enforcement memorial ceremony is especially important this year in wake of numerous police shootings over the past couple years in the Pacific Northwest, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik remarked in his speech.
He noted fallen Rainier, Ore. Police Chief Ralph Painter in January as well as the fatal shootings in 2009 of four Lakewood police officers as examples of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Last year, the number of police shootings rose nationwide by 37 percent, he said. In a 24-hour period in January alone, there were 11 shootings across the United States.
Golik also acknowledged the officers who put on their uniforms daily, accepting the risk of violence.
“Law enforcement officers are sometimes forgotten when we talk about heroes,” Golik said to the crowd. “They are deserving of that title.”
After Golik’s remarks, Ridgefield Police Chief Carrie Greene read the list of Clark County officers who have died on the job. They are: Clark County sheriff’s Deputy Wilfred Rorison in 1922; Clark County Sheriff Lester Wood in 1927; Special Agent Ballard Turner of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms in 1932; Special Agent Ernest Vlasich of ATF in 1932; Washington State Patrol Trooper Don Campbell Jr. in 1951; Clark County sheriff’s Deputy Martin Sowders in 1976; WSP Trooper James Gain in 1987; and Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Brad Crawford in 2004.
Among the fallen police dogs are Brie in 1987 and Lucky in 1990, both with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, and Dakota with the Vancouver Police Department in 2007.
Added this year to the list was Clark County sheriff’s tracking dog Kane, who died April 2 after officials say he was stabbed by a suspect, H. Keegan Graves, during a pursuit. Graves is awaiting trial on charges related to the dog’s death.
Even without his partner, Deputy Rick Osborne — Kane’s handler — joined fellow canine law enforcement officers and their four-legged counterparts in the ceremony “in honor of Kane.”
“It’s still pretty fresh,” Osborne said after the ceremony. About Kane being the latest honored at the ceremony: “I guess I’m kind of at a loss for words.”
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
