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SALT LAKE CITY — Two new names of fallen officers have been added to the record Thursday as cops, household, buddies and group members gathered on the state Capitol to commemorate the 149 state regulation enforcement officers who’ve died serving within the line of obligation since 1857.
“President Ronald Reagan stated, ‘Evil is powerless if the great are unafraid,'” Draper Police Lt. Patrick Evans stated on the annual Utah Police Memorial Service. “Fortunately, we now have the courageous women and men who put on a badge and face evil and hazard. Sadly, they do not all the time win.”
Evans, who additionally serves because the Utah Legislation Enforcement Memorial’s president, talked about to the gang gathered Thursday that he’s grateful there have been no officer fatalities in 2023. The latest Utah regulation enforcement officer to be killed was Ogden officer Nate Lyday who was fatally shot whereas investigating a home dispute in 2020, in response to utahsfallen.org.
A lot of the ceremony was spent memorializing the lives and repair of the 2 Utah regulation enforcement officers who obtained a plaque to be positioned amongst different plaques commemorating fallen Utah officers on the Utah Legislation Enforcement Memorial — Provo officer Trenton Halladay, who died in 2006, and Utah County sheriff’s deputy James Hand, who died in 1931.
“I noticed that I’ve gotten the pleasure of understanding a number of of the women and men on this wall and I do know their personalities and I nonetheless keep in mind them nicely, and understanding theirs and Trent’s, I do know that they’d be tight,” stated Draper Police Chief Wealthy Ferguson, taking the rostrum to talk about Halladay and the sort of particular person and officer he was. “I miss his chortle.”
Halladay served with the Provo Police Division for 10 years and was a key member of the Utah County Sheriff’s Main Crimes Process Power, a multi-jurisdictional group of officers from 18 companies tasked with focusing on and destroying prison organizations.
In accordance with Ferguson, Halladay was instrumental in figuring out and finding meth labs in Utah in the course of the mid-2000s. Ferguson, who investigated meth labs alongside him, stated Halladay shortly volunteered to be licensed within the taking down of meth labs after the DEA grew to become overwhelmed with the quantity of meth labs they have been discovering on the time.
“Throughout briefings after a lab, we’d joke in regards to the high quality of the lab we had simply investigated as a result of our throats have been nonetheless burning three or 4 days later from the chemical compounds we had ingested,” Ferguson stated, illuminating the ugly actuality of busting a meth lab. “That is how we certified what a great lab should’ve been was by how dangerous our throats burned.”
In accordance with Ferguson, Halladay investigated a whole bunch of meth labs over his profession and put quite a few harmful criminals in jail whereas understanding that not everybody caught up within the drug world is a foul particular person. Sadly, Halladay handed away in 2006 after a six-month-long combat with most cancers attributable to publicity to the carcinogens produced within the meth labs that he investigated.
“Trent was a naturally good police officer, it was simply in his blood,” Ferguson stated, and in 2022 Halladay’s identify was added to the Nationwide Legislation Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. “It took 16 years for his mild to be validated and acknowledged as an in-the-line-of-duty dying.”
Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith spoke to the gang to commemorate the reminiscence of Hand, who died in 1931 after moving into an accident whereas driving to work on a sheriff’s workplace motorbike and after solely serving as a deputy for about 10 months. Throughout these 10 months, it was evident that Handcrafted a optimistic influence on the group he served.
“Deputy Handcrafted the native papers a number of instances for his distinctive work as a deputy,” Smith stated. Amongst his notable arrests included the arrest of an escaped convict from the Arizona State Jail and the arrest of a person present in possession of 56 bottles of “house brew.”
The memorialization of the 2 officers being added to the memorial in the course of the ceremony was adopted by a musical quantity, “Homeward Sure,” carried out by Kate Allan, earlier than the plaques of the 2 officers have been positioned on the memorial among the many names of their fellow fallen officers.
A second of silence adopted the putting of the plaques and a rendition of “Superb Grace” performed on the bagpipes by Sandy police officer Ian Williams. A 3-round volley was fired by Provo cops and a rendition of faucets was carried out by Marcia Conover-Harris and Casey Harris.
To shut the memorial service, Elder Okay. Bruce Boucher of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led these gathered in a benediction the place he prayed for the safekeeping and well-being of cops and their households.
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