HOULTON, Maine — Houlton police Chief Joe McKenna was midway through his presentation to honor fallen law enforcement officers as part of National Police Week when one of his officers had to leave the ceremony to answer a call.
It was another sign that police work never stops, even to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
McKenna organized the 15-minute ceremony at the Houlton Police Department on Tuesday, which included an invocation and wreath laying. It attracted members of the Maine Warden Service, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Maine Forest Service, Maine State Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as a number of military veterans.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week.
McKenna noted that traffic stops and ambushes were the leading cause of death for police officers in the line of duty.
Eighty-three names are engraved on the Maine Law Enforcement Officers Memorial located on State Street next to the State House in Augusta. Ten of those officers who died in the line of duty are from Aroostook County, McKenna said Tuesday.
The police chief asked those in the crowd to remember all law enforcement officers as they perform their duties to protect people and communities.
Aroostook County Sheriff Darrell Crandall read off the names of the five deputy sheriffs who died in the line of duty. They included Norman Dube, who suffered a massive heart attack in November 1997 in Ashland while attempting to interrogate a suspected drunken driver.
State police Lt. Brian Harris also honored Detective Glenn Strange, who suffered a fatal heart attack Oct. 17, 1997, several days after being punched in the chest by a suspect who assaulted him. After Strange complained of chest pains and it was determined he suffered an injury to his heart, he was fitted with a pacemaker. While he and his wife were driving home from the hospital three days later, he suffered a fatal heart attack.
The Maine Warden Service also honored Daryl Gordon, who died when his plane crashed on Clear Lake in a remote section of Piscataquis County in March 2011.
No new names are being added this year to the Maine Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Augusta. An annual observance also will take place at the memorial beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday. The guest speaker will be Maine Attorney General Janet Mills.