Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, and Jamestown Police Chaplin Benjamin Gerring laid a wreath at the Police Officer Memorial as officers stood at attention for “Peace Officer Memorial Day” and “Police Week” on Friday.
Mayor Sundquist said Jamestown Police officers have worked devotedly and selflessly on the behalf of the people of Jamestown, “We honor those that we’ve lost in the line of duty protecting the citizens of this great city as well as those who were injured serving the public. The difficulties of the COVID-19 Pandemic and our nation’s reckoning with race and policing in America have shown our department to be a shining example of what is good in this city.”
County Executive Wendel said he’s been blessed over his 32 years with volunteer fire service to work with many men and women in law enforcement, “As we remember those who have fallen, it is unfortunate that these numbers have increased over the last year. I ask everybody and we ask everybody leaving today to take a moment to spread the message to let people know that these men and women are here for us. They’re risking their lives. We don’t know. And I pray and honestly, personally, I pray I never get that call from our EMS Director or the Sheriff that one of our officers has fallen.”
Chaplin Benjamin Gerring presented a letter from Kendall Club President Sam Piazza that nominated all the officers of the Jamestown Police as “Officer of the Year.”
President John F. Kennedy in 1962 designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the United States. Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week are an observance in the United States that pay tribute to local, state and federal peace officers who have died, or who have been disabled, in the line of duty.
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