Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Today makes 39 years that I lost my hero, my Great Great Uncle, the man who gave me the love and desire to follow his footsteps in Law Enforcement. However, God had different plans although I bleed blue because of you! Every time I see someone killed or injured because of a drunk driver I sit and tear up and get angry to think of how you were taken from us way to soon because of someone chose to drink and drive. Uncle Bill I love and miss you more than words can ever be said. You are gone but you will never be forgotten. Fly high my hero fly high!

For my Hero
Today, I will not answer the radio call that your boyfriend has come home drunk and is beating you again.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that your 16 year old daughter, who is very responsible, is four hours late coming home from school.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that your store has been robbed or your house has been burglarized.

Today, I will not stop a drunk driver from killing someone. I will not catch a rapist or a murderer or a car thief.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that a man has a gun or tried to abduct a child or that someone has been stabbed or has been in a terrible accident.

Today, I will not save your child that you locked in a car or the child you were too busy to watch who went outside and fell into the swimming pool, but that I revived.

No, today I will not do that.

Why?

Today, I was suspended from duty for doing my job, because the media, liberals, a community organizer, a lawyer who formally represented terrorists and is the US attorney general and a mayor who ran on an anti-police agenda, who are all advised by a drug dealer, liar and income tax cheat. AND, all who know nothing about Policing, have vilified my profession.

Because ----

Today, I was killed by a drunk driver while I was helping push a disabled car off the highway.

Today, I was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop to simply tell someone that they had a taillight out.

Today, I was killed in a traffic accident rushing to help a citizen.

Today, I was shot and killed serving a warrant on a known drug dealer.

Today, I was killed by a man when I came by to do a welfare check because his family was too busy.

Today, I was killed trying to stop a bank robbery or a grocery store robbery.

Today I was killed doing my job.
A chaplain and an officer will go to a house and tell a mom and dad or a wife or husband or a child that their son or daughter or husband or wife or father or mother won't be coming home today.

The flags at many police stations were flown at half-mast today but most people won't know why.

There will be a funeral and my fellow officers will come, a twenty-one-gun salute will be given, and taps and bagpipes will be played as I am laid to rest.

My name will be put on a plaque, on a wall, in a building, in a city somewhere.

A folded flag will be placed on a mantel or a bookcase in a home somewhere and a family will mourn.

There will be no cries for justice.
There will be no riots in the streets.
There will be no officers marching, screaming 'no justice, no peace.'
No citizens will scream that something must be done.
No windows will be smashed, no cars burned, no stones thrown, no names called.
Only someone crying themselves to sleep tonight will be the only sign that I was cared about.

I was a police officer

It has been a year today since you paid the ultimate sacrifice doing what you love and the selflessness that you showed your community.

My thoughts and prayers go out to your family and your brothers and sisters in blue as another great officer was taken from us to soon. You will never be forgotten!
Rest Easy Brothers and Sisters as we will take it from here.

Misty Lang
Great Great Niece of Fallen Officer William Hiram Givens McDonald County Sheriff's Department, McDonald County Missouri EOW 02-04-1984

February 4, 2023

I remember when I was little of running around in your boots and cowboy hat with your duty belt and handcuffs arresting everyone in the house. You were my hero and I always wanted to be a LEO just like you! I never got to be a LEO but my love and support for all LEO's will never die because you were my Great Great Uncle my blood bleeds blue through and through! I was 7 years old when you were taken from us and because of how you were taken I have NEVER gotten behind the wheel or went with someone that had been drinking. My heart hurts and gets angry every time I hear or read the news that a life was taken by a drunk driver. I love you Uncle Bill and it's hard to believe that it has been 35 years now. RIP Fly High my hero!!

Misty Lang
Great Great Niece of Fallen Officer William Hiram Givens McDonald County Sheriff's Department, McDonald County Missouri EOW 02-04-1984

June 13, 2019

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 28th anniversary of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

Time never diminishes respect and your memory will always be honored and revered. I pray for solace for all those who love and remember you for I know both the pain and pride are forever. I hold your family in my heart's embrace today.
Rest In Peace

Phyllis Loya
Mom of fallen California Officer Larry Lasater, Pittsburg PD, eow 4/24/05

February 4, 2012

YOU ARE REMEMBERED TODAY AND THANK YOU SIR FOR YOUR SERVICE

Pat Van Den Berghe
Neighbors for a Better Manchester, NH

February 1, 2008

"The Badge"

He starts his shift each day
To respond to calls unknown.
He drives a marked patrol car.
A police officer he is known.

He's paid by the citizens' taxes
To make it safe on the streets.
But he usually has a second job
'Cause a waitress has his salary beat.

Now he doesn't know a holiday
'Cause he works all year round.
And when Thanksgiving and Christmas finally arrive
At his home he cannot be found.

He's cursed and assaulted often,
The one whos blood runs blue.
He seldom ever gets a thanks,
To some he's just a fool.

His friends are always other cops
'Cause people just don't understand
That underneath his badge and gun,
He's just another man.

He knows there might not be a tomorrow
In this world of drugs and crime.
And he gets so mad at the court system
'Cause the crooks don't get any time.

And each day when he leaves for work,
He prays to God above.
Please bring me home after my shift
So I can see the ones I love.

But tonight he stops a speeding car,
He's alone down this ole' highway.
It's just a little traffic infraction.
He does it everyday.

Well, he walks up to the driver's window,
And his badge is shining bright.
He asked the guy for a driver's license,
When a shot rang through the night.

Yes, the bullet hit its mark,
Striking the officer in the chest.
But the Department's budget didn't buy
Each officer a bullet-proof vest.

So he lay on the ground bleeding.
His blood wasn't blue - His blood was red.
And briefly he thought of his loved ones
'Cause in a moment the officer was dead.

In the news they told the story
Of how this officer had died.
And some who listened cared less,
But those who loved him cried.

Well, they buried him in uniform
With his badge pinned on his chest.
He even had his revolver,
He died doing his best.

Written By:
David L. Bell
Sergeant
Richland County Sheriff's Department
Columbia, South Carolina
Used with Special Permission of the Author
Copyright © 1999 - All Rights Reserved
and may not be duplicated without permission

Investigator David L Bell
Richland County Sheriff's Dept., Columbia, SC

December 6, 2007

No man goes unnoticed before G-d.Thank you for your service.

February 4, 2006