Memorial to Honor Last Full Measure

The names the four Fredericksburg police officers who died in the line of duty will be among several hundred engraved in a planned memorial to Virginia's fallen public safety personnel.

When finished, the memorial will sit in Richmond's Capital Square and will bear the names of every police officer, fire fighters, rescue workers and others who have given the last full measure for the sake of their community.

The decision to include the names of every public safety worker who has fallen in the line of duty has set up a monumental research task for the Virginia Public Safety Foundation, which is administering the design, construction and maintenance of the planned memorial for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Their goal now is to get the most accurate list of line-of-duty public safety deaths before construction on the memorial begins. The group has reached out to 1300 public safety agencies across Virginia seeking information on all of their line-of-duty deaths.

"Everything from police officers, fire fighters, EMT's, anyone in a public safety role in the state and local level," says Andy Poarch, spokesperson for the Public Safety  Foundation. "This is the first instance where a comprehensive effort has been made to tally local line of duty deaths."

Records at the state level only go back to 1972, when Virginia lawmakers clarified what constituted a Line of Duty Death. In that time, approximately 400 public safety workers have died in the line of duty, according to Poarch.

Once you go past 1972, the records of line of duty deaths become much more disbursed, held in each agency's history books and case files. Poarch estimates that there could be more than 1,000 public safety workers who have died in the line of duty in Virginia going back to the mid 19th century when modern police and fire rescue services were first formed in the state.

Now, public safety agencies across the state are being asked to catalogue the specifics of each incident, including the name of each officer, the date of the death and a brief description of the incident. Departments are also encouraged to send along supporting documentation such as news clippings to certify the death.

"“We wanted to ensure that the legacy of our fallen police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice would be recognized and remembered," said Fredericksburg Police Chief David Nye in a press release. "It makes me very proud that the names of our four brave officers who died in the line of duty will have an eternal place of honor"

"As I've been reading through these submissions, I sometimes find that I get caught up in reading the news clippings and the tragedy and the drama surrounding these incidents," said Poarch. When reviewing Fredericksburg's submissions, he says he was struck by the story of the night that Seargant Roy Wright and Officer William Mines were gunned down by a murderer on a multi-state crime spree.

Wright and Mines were partners on a midnight shift on May 5, 1964 when they stumbled upon Bruce Leikett in possession of a stolen car behind the Fredericksburg Park and Shop Shopping Center. Unknown to the officers was that the day before, Leikett had fatally shot an 18-year-old gas station attendant in New Jersey during a robbery. The officers asked for Leikett's identification, but he pulled a gun instead and shot each officer at close range. Both officers died on the scene.

Wright was 31 years old when he died, Mines was 27. Both were fathers.

"That struck a chord with me, because my son is eight," said Poarch. "It just kind of shows to me the extraordinary bravery that these men and women show each and every day. When they get up in the morning, they don't know what's going to happen that day."

Leikett was caught three days later in Michigan after leading police on a fatal car chase which took the life of a passerby. He was brought to Fredericksburg and after a mistrial he pled guilty to the murders of Wright and Mines and was sentenced to two life sentences. Leikett died of liver cancer in Powhatan Correctional Center in 2004 at the age of 66.

The Fredericksburg Police Department's most recent line of duty death occurred on June 6, 2008, when 40-year-old Officer Todd Bahr was shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence report. His killer, Gregory Berryman, engaged in a short shootout with other responding officers before turning the gun on himself.

The oldest known line of duty death in Fredericksburg happened on May 31, 1925, when motorcycle officer E.A. Moore was killed while trying to pull over a speeding motorist on Lafayette Blvd.

Poarch says that the Virginia Public Safety Memorial is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. Before then, more than $2 million will need to be raised to pay for construction and maintenance of the memorial.