Amid prayers, a three-volley salute and the sounds of taps played on a bugle, more than 100 people honored the officers, troopers and deputies who have died while protecting their communities.
“We breathe easier knowing there are brave men and women serving us day and night,” Vancouver Police Chief James McElvain told attendees Thursday morning in the courtyard of the Clark County Public Service Center in Vancouver. “In my 28 years of law enforcement, each ceremony brings to the forefront the inherent dangers of police work.”
The Clark County Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony was the local celebration of a national day of remembrance. Though a good number die by felonious activity, McElvain pointed to the 2013 statistic of 46 law enforcement officers that were killed nationwide in vehicle crashes.
“There’s a tremendous gap to overcome in terms of officers dying accidentally,” he said. Officers have such a passion to get to the call, he said, that they sometimes forget to take simple and safe actions to protect themselves.
“As much as we have become better at what we do over time, there are always those unfortunate circumstances,” he said.
McElvain said he was proud to speak at the event, his first fallen officers’ memorial as police chief of Vancouver.
“I want to represent those that have passed with dignity,” McElvain said.
Portland Fire & Rescue Capt. Martin Getch brought his 8-year-old son Chase, who was wearing a small Battle Ground police uniform.
Chase was chosen as the unofficial honorary chief of the Battle Ground Police Department.
And he knew why he was there. “To honor the police,” he said.
“I was trying to explain it on our way down,” Martin Getch said. “He understands what they do is very dangerous and he understands my job, the dangers with that.”
Teri Mitchum attended the event to honor the two partners her husband, Detective Tom Mitchum, lost during his 37-year law enforcement career.
Tom Mitchum’s partner Brad Crawford was killed while on duty by a drunken driver in 2004, and Mitchum’s police dog Lucky died in a shooting in 1990.
The loss, she said, “is hard to put into words.”
“It doesn’t make a difference if it was yesterday or 20 years ago, it’s still the same.”
