TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across Florida gathered Monday at the state Capitol to remember 10 of their colleagues who died in the line of duty in 2017, along with four who died in the past.
During an hour-long ceremony held by the Fraternal Order of Police, bagpipes played “Amazing Grace” while family members placed roses on a flower-covered memorial honoring 806 fallen officers.
“We need to remember and our communities need to remember the sacrifice that these children and their families make so that their loved ones can go out and protect the rest of us," survivor Erica Reynolds said.
The 10 officers who died last year were Debra Clayton of the Orlando Police Department; Norman Cecil Lewis of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office; Rickey O’Donald of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Joshua Montaad of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement; Joe William Heddy Jr. of Escambia County Corrections; William Trampus Bishop of the Florida Highway Patrol; Matthew Scott Baxter of the Kissimmee Police Department; Richard “Sam” Howard of the Kissimmee Police Department; Julie Ann England Bridges of the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office; and Charles Scavuzzo of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
Monday’s ceremony was the 36th annual event honoring fallen officers. Nationwide, 129 law enforcement officers lost their lives in 2017.
“There’s no way to describe what’s going on,” said Bobby Jenkins, president of the Florida State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. “It seems like every day there is an attack on law enforcement, with ambushes or whatever. You just can’t describe it.”
Three members of law enforcement have already died in Florida this year, including two members of the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office who were shot and killed this month while eating in a restaurant.
Kissimmee Police Sgt. Stacey Baseggio lost two of her fellow officers in a similar incident last year.
“Unfortunately, someone who did not like law enforcement at the time decided to take things into his own hands and he took their life," Baseggio said.
The threat of violence is an everyday reality for officers, as well as their families. Law enforcement says that threat only seems to be increasing
“It's like we're sacrificial pieces of furniture, like it doesn't matter," Jenkins said. "We're human beings just like everybody else.”