Officer Christopher Robert Betts

It’s not always easy to comprehend that each law enforcement officer memorialized on this site, every single one, was someone’s child, many, a husband or wife, mother or father, brother or sister, cousin, friend, or neighbor. Each had dreams, and hopes, and each had good days and bad. They all laughed, and they all cried. Every one of them planned on tomorrow, a tomorrow that never came. Chris is part of a gut punching long list of heroes immortalized here, and in that sense, he and his eternal colleagues of courage, will live forever. Make no mistake as you scroll through these vignettes of tragedy, these officers were real people, and the loss of their presence, the irreparable hole ripped into the lives of those left behind is tangible and enduring. Each of their lives is overshadowed by their in the line of duty death, and that is what we commemorate here, but let’s never forget the families, friends, and coworkers who were fortunate enough to know them prior to their last day. And it is to them, Chris’s family, his friends, and his coworkers (of which I was one), that I say: Chris’s death has never gotten less sad, but we are collectively more enriched for having known him before December 22, 2002 - a toast to Chris.

Tim Barge
Former Lieutenant, East Point PD

December 22, 2023