DuPage officers pay tribute to those who died in line of duty
Lombard Police Chief Ray Byrne was recently struck by the sight of police officers honoring one of their own who was killed in the line of duty - years before many of them were born.
The image, he says, confirmed that there will always be officers to carry forward the memory of fallen colleagues.
Area law enforcement officers gathered to do just that on Tuesday in the annual Peace Officers' Memorial Observance in Naperville.
The event is part of National Police Week and is hosted by the Naperville Police Department, DuPage County Chiefs of Police Association and Naperville Police Association of Chaplains.
"Just as we gather here today, the security and the comfort that we can all take with us is that no death of a police officer in the line of duty will ever be forgotten," said Byrne, who is also president of the chiefs association.
This year 388 names were added to the national memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring fallen officers, according to Naperville police Chief David Dial. Of those, 133 were killed last year and the remaining 255 were killed in prior years but just recently identified.
The crowd gathered at Tuesday's ceremony observed 133 seconds of silence in honor of the most recent deaths.
The 2008 fatalities are the lowest since 1960, and firearms deaths are at their lowest in decades, according to Dial.
He said traffic accidents were the leading cause of officer fatalities nationally and his officers will be undergoing additional training to help prevent such deaths.
While none of the 2008 deaths were from DuPage County, Tuesday's ceremony honored the 15 who have died in the line of duty since 1918, including Alfred Olin, Aurora; Harry F. Magers, Elmhurst; George Riehm, West Chicago; Paul H. Schwieger, Hinsdale; Robert Worthel, Naperville; Thompson Richardson, Aurora; Louis Schuetz, Lombard; John Frost, Lombard; Eugene Roberts, Illinois State Police; Raymond Wilson, West Chicago; Ronald E. Borg, Wheaton; Richard Barth, Downers Grove; Allan Mollsen, Lombard; John H. Kugelman, Illinois State Police and Michael A. Browning, West Chicago.
"Police officers are fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, baseball coaches and our neighbors, Byrne said. "In many respects ordinary people but they are also heroes."
The ceremony was especially poignant for Naperville officers who lost one of their own, Donald, "DJ" Andries, in December 2008. Andries, a 16-year veteran, died in his sleep.
Andries "served his community with honor and dignity and he was loved by all who knew him," Dial said.
Those in attendance who lost loved ones in the line of duty expressed their gratitude for the service. Marcia Williams lost her brother, Metra police officer Thomas Cook, in 2006 when he was shot while on surveillance duty in Harvey.
"It means so much to the survivors that we know our loved ones aren't forgotten," she said.
The DuPage County Sheriff's Office is holding a similar ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday, May 15, at the Police and Fire Memorial at the south end of the DuPage County Complex, 501 N. County Farm Rd. in Wheaton.