Above: Joe Garrison of Quiring Monuments uses a stencil to reveal the name of Officer Tina Griswold at the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial on Wednesday. Garrison, who has worked for Quiring Monuments for a year and a half, says, "Engravings are hard, emotionally...I have a 15 month old baby girl and a four year old boy...but I know I'm doing it for a good cause."
By Janine Gates
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com
Deputy Stephen (Mike) Gallagher, Jr.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
End of Watch: 08-18-2009
Officer Timothy Q. Brenton
Seattle Police Department
End of Watch: 10-31-2009
Sergeant Mark J. Renninger
Lakewood Police Department
End of Watch: 11-29-2009
Officer Tina G. Griswold
Lakewood Police Department
End of Watch: 11-29-2009
Officer Ronald W. Owens II
Lakewood Police Department
End of Watch: 11-29-2009
Officer Gregory J. Richards
Lakewood Police Department
End of Watch: 11-29-2009
Deputy W. Kent Mundell, Jr.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Office
End of Watch: 12-28-2009
Deputy John Bernard
Grant County Sheriff’s Office
End of Watch: 01-03-2010
Control Officer Joseph B. Modlin
Washington State Patrol
End of Watch: 08-15-1974
On Wednesday morning, the names of nine officers who died in the line of duty were engraved into the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial’s granite wall in Olympia.
Working quickly and quietly, the whole process took two workers with Quiring Monuments of Seattle about an hour and a half to complete. In about an hour and a half, the names of nine men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice were immortalized, to be remembered forever. They finished the job just before it began to rain.
The fallen officers and their survivors will be honored at a ceremony that will likely attract over a thousand officers from across the state at the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial, May 7, 1:00 p.m. in Olympia.
Above: Tim Tiffany of Quiring Monuments sandblasts the names of fallen officers on the wall of the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial on Wednesday. Tiffany, who has worked for Quiring Monuments for ten years, has participated with the assignment since the Memorial was created in 2006.
The Officers
Gallagher of the Lewis County Sheriff's Office was gravely injured on Monday evening August 17, 2009, while responding to assist another deputy with a domestic violence 911 call. He died of his injuries a day later.
Brenton of the Seattle Police Department was shot and killed while sitting in his patrol car with a trainee. They were discussing a just completed traffic stop when a vehicle pulled alongside the patrol car and an occupant opened fire. Officer Brenton was killed instantly.
Griswold, Owens, Renninger, and Richards of the Lakewood Police Department were ambushed and killed as they sat in a coffee shop, preparing to start their shifts.
Mundell of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department was killed as he and a fellow officer responded to a call of a domestic disturbance.
Modlin of the Washington State Patrol was killed in 1974 when he was struck by a logging truck trailer at a weight station on Highway 14 near Stevenson.
Bernard of the Grant County Sheriff's Office died in the line of duty in a one car crash on January 3, 2010. Because Deputy Bernard’s death was five days after Deputy Mundell’s, it was determined to honor his sacrifice at the 2010 Memorial ceremony instead of waiting until 2011.
"The horror of eight officers dying in the line of duty from August 2009 to January 2010 is a horror that happened to us all,” says Gayle Frink-Schulz, Program Director for the Behind the Badge Foundation.
No matter how long ago the incident, Washington law enforcement families still reel in the aftermath of grief, says Frink-Schulz. She knows. Her husband, King County Trooper Steven L. Frink died in the line of duty in 1993.
“The 2010 Medal of Honor - Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony is our time to stop, reflect, and encourage one another. Together, in community, we take steps to heal," said Frink-Schulz.
According to Frink-Schulz, there are numerous incidences of multiple officers dying in the line of duty as a result of the same incident in the state of Washington: four officers, the same as that lost by the Lakewood Police Department, died in 1941. In that incident, two were from the Tacoma Police Department and two were from Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Three officers from the Kennewick Police Department were killed in 1906, three Seattle Police Department officers were killed in 1921 and three officers from the Pullman Police Department were killed in 1949.
The Memorial
Located in Olympia on the Capitol campus in the shadow of the Temple of Justice and looking north to Heritage Park and Puget Sound, the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial was designed to be a lasting tribute to law enforcement officers who give their lives in the line of duty. The site was specifically chosen for its nearly unencumbered view of Budd Inlet.
Above: The view from the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial on the Capitol Campus.
The Memorial began when a number of surviving families of line of duty death and law enforcement officers traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1995 to visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The officers discovered over 35 states had law enforcement memorials honoring officers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Because Washington State did not have a state memorial, the need to honor Washington heroes was recognized.
The Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation became a nonprofit organization in 1995. On May 1, 2006, the Memorial was officially dedicated to the citizens of Washington.
Behind the Badge
On January 1, 2009, the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial (WSLEMF) and 10-99 Foundations became one organization – Behind the Badge Foundation (BtBF). Both organizations achieved significant goals which are still carried through by the Behind the Badge Foundation:
Twenty eight dollars from each Law Enforcement Memorial license plate sold by the Washington State Department of Licensing is forwarded to an endowment held by Behind the Badge Foundation. These funds ensure maintenance of the Memorial in perpetuity and provide financial assistance to the families of Washington police officers killed in the line of duty.
To keep the family of fallen officers from bearing the considerable cost of the memorial ceremony honoring their loved one, the Behind the Badge Foundation defrays the expenses of line of duty death memorial ceremonies. Police funerals cannot be paid for using public funds.
For more information, contact the Behind the Badge Foundation at www.behindthebadgefoundation.org or (425) 747-7523.
For more articles by Janine Gates about the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial, see other articles at www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and http://www.wslemf.org/making_memorial.htm
Above: Tim Tiffany of Quiring Monuments completes his job by wiping down the new names he just added to the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial. Asked what doing this job every year means to him, Tiffany said, "It's an honor."
