Did You Know...

05-01-08 The week of May 12th to 17th marks National Police Week in Washington D.C. where there will be events at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The memorial was created to honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in the line-of-duty. Our small community has a name etched in the memorial wall in Chief Raymond Garcia who was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop on October 1, 1971. The flag pole outside City Hall is a memorial to Chief Garcia. Many of you may or may not know but I have a personal connection the Memorial in D.C. Officer Joel Conklin was a fellow officer on my shift when I was a patrol officer in Hastings, Nebraska. Just after 10pm on October 9, 1993 I was dispatched to an "unwanted subject" call involving an estranged husband who had been bothering his wife throughout the day. I started to respond but heard Joel advise he would take it as he had dealt with the subject on the previous calls. I continued to respond only to hear our dispatch center start to radio Joel several times but there was no answer. The dispatch then advised me they were receiving calls of possible "shots fired" in the area. I activated my lights and sirens and sped to the call as the dispatch center continued to call Joel, receiving no reply. As to drove to the area I knew something was wrong. My wife was on a ride-a-long and was also concerned as to why Joel would not answer. Needless to say, I arrived and found Joel had been shot a shotgun and had died behind the residence. I went through a long period wondering if that could or should have been me that died. Would I have approached differently, used cover, or waited for back-up? I came to realize that I will never know what would have happened if I had arrived first. The bottom line is that police officers across this country and world go to work prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect those we serve. The tragic death of Officer Conklin is also a sobering reminder of how dangerous Domestic Violence issues can be. The emotions between anyone in a domestic relationship are often very deep and can cause people to do things they would not normally do. When a relationship deteriorates or one person becomes involves with another person, emotions can run very high. It is at this time that everyone needs to stop, calm down, and make rational decisions. All too often one or all parties turn to violence, emotional abuse, or mental abuse and situation is compounded. Add children into the mix and many people end up getting hurt, especially the children. If you need advice on dealing with domestic relationship issues you can check out the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence website at <http://www.ncadv.org/>. If you are a victim of Domestic Violence don't hesitate to call the police department for assistance and advice.