As a Columbus police officer read the names of officers nationwide who died in the line of duty over the past 12 months during a Friday morning ceremony, strong thoughts were racing through her mind.
“This list is too long,” said Julie Quesenbery, the Columbus East High School school resource officer who read the names during the local commemoration of National Police Week. “Every name I read represents someone who had families. Sons, daughters, moms, dads. It really hits home.”
With a threat of rain, the ceremony drew about 75 spectators, down from about 100 last year. But the presence of city officers, county deputies, Indiana tate Police troopers and local firemen remained as strong as ever at the Public Safety Plaza near Second and Jackson streets.
While no Indiana officers were among the 146 names Quesenbery read during last year’s ceremony, three Hoosier officers were among the 135 fallen who were honored Friday.
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After Quesenbery read the names of Southport Police Lt. Aaron Allen and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Mojo, she paused to allow Columbus Police officer James Scott time to place a white rose on the memorial wreath.
Late last July, Allen was shot to death while helping a motorist in an overturned vehicle. The police dog had died of heat stroke earlier that month.
But the police woman said the death of the most recent Indiana officer killed in the line of duty was felt deeply throughout her department.
She was referring to Robert Pitts, a 45-year-old Terre Haute officer fatally wounded two weeks ago while approaching a suspect barricaded inside an apartment.
The third Indiana officer killed over the past year was Boone County Deputy Jake Pickett, shot to death in early March while attempting apprehend a wanted subject.
Other heart-tugging realities emerged from this year’s list. About five fallen officers were from Puerto Rico. Some died while trying to help victims devastated by two separate hurricanes early last fall.
But what really took Quesenbery by surprise was that six officers died last year of complications related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
“It’s hard to believe there are still people dying after all this time,” she said.
Inquiries about the last time an officer died in the line of duty in Bartholomew County occasionally pop up around the time the annual remembrance is held.
The date was Aug. 31, 1955, when Indiana State Police trooper Earl L. Brown was shot to death by a suspicious hitchhiker near Jonesville along what is now State Road 11, said Alan Trisler, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89 president. The local FOP lodge is named in honor of Brown.
A number of local officers, including Quesenbery, cite good public-police relations and proactive policing techniques as reasons why there’s little local violence that threatens the lives of law enforcement personnel.
But in recent interviews, Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers warned that calls for help are becoming more dangerous, largely due to the growing opioid problem.
Former sheriff Kenny Whipker, who attended Friday’s ceremony, agrees with Myers.
“There’s also a greater chance of an officer getting a communicable disease associated with narcotics,” said Whipker, the county’s top lawman from 1999 to 2006.
The risk of contracting some form of Hepatitis from handling infected syringes — or getting HIV from bodily fluids — increases for all emergency workers with the escalating drug problem, Whipker said.
In response, the Columbus Police Department trains officers to always be on their guard and prepare for worst-case scenarios, Police Chief Jon Rohde said after Friday’s ceremony.
“But we put our lives on the line every day to protect others,” Rohde said. “And you just never know when or where (danger) might take place.”
