Jacob Keltner among fallen officers honored Tuesday in DuPage County

In his 22 years as a DuPage County sheriff's deputy, Sheriff James Mendrick attended several police remembrance ceremonies.

This year, though, was different. For the first time, he knew a fallen officer whose name was read in memoriam.

McHenry County Deputy Jacob Keltner, 35, died March 7 while trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel in Rockford as part of a U.S. Marshals team.

Keltner worked in the DuPage sheriff's office as a civilian around 2005. His father, Howard Keltner, retired from the department as chief of corrections in 2010, and his brother, Zach Keltner, is a sergeant in DuPage's corrections bureau.

Mendrick said Keltner's shooting makes remembrance ceremonies, such as the one he hosted Tuesday at the county's Police and Fire Memorial, mean even more.

"With Jake's loss and us being so ingrained with his family, to me, this means much more because Jake is just not a name on a plaque," Mendrick said. "He's one of our own and it makes this both more hard and more important."

In all, Tuesday's ceremony honored four Chicago police officers, three Illinois state troopers, Keltner and three firefighters who have died in the line of duty since May 2018.

"I consider this my public safety family so this isn't like a budget speech or introduction of a new initiative. It's personal. This is our family. These are our fallen brothers and sisters," Mendrick said after a red and white wreath was placed at the memorial. "It is so important to have a day of honor and remembrance for people who gave the ultimate sacrifice. That's firefighters, police, sherif's deputies."