The National Police Week festivities in the Virgin Islands took on a somber tone Wednesday as officers paused to honor their fallen comrades.
On St. Croix, the day began with a motorcade of about a dozen officers visiting the graves of all the officers who were killed in the line of duty.
At the Christiansted cemetery, the officers formed in ranks and marched to the resting place of Patrolman Patrick Sweeney, who was shot responding to a robbery in 1975.
After brief words, the detail planted a small Virgin Islands flag on Sweeney’s grave and filed out. They then repeated the ceremony at the Kingshill and Frederiksted cemeteries.
Later in the morning, officers gathered at the Violet Damidaux Pavilion for a memorial service.
A wreath of bright orange flowers was laid at the base of a small boulder that bears the names of the VIPD officers who have fallen in the line of duty. The assembled officers saluted as a trumpeter played “Taps” and an honor guard performed a 21-gun salute.
Police Commissioner-designate Rodney Querrard praised 15 officers listed on the memorial for “paying the ultimate price for each one of us.”
Querrard said he wished they would never have to add another name to the memorial, but he feared it may be inevitable.
“Times are not getting easier. Times are getting harder,” he said.
Querrard said he believed the community must get involved and work together with police to solve the problems facing the territory.
The service was punctuated by a number of stirring musical performances, but the most moving moment was when former Police Chief Christopher Howell took the podium to talk about the things he’d learned since he and Officer Elsworth Jones were shot in the line of duty last year.
Howell said this was the fourth year in a row he had spoken at this memorial service, but this year was different.
“That dissimilarity comes from knowing how lucky I am that my name is not on that stone up front. In the last months, I’ve thought about that fact more times than I can count,” he said. “For police officers, the space between life and death is measured in inches, and that was the case for us.”
Howell said that all officers deserved to be honored, not just those who have fallen, and that everyone present should be thankful for having the opportunity to continue their lives and make them meaningful.
“The time in which we have to accomplish our goals is not infinite, and it has an expiration date on all of our careers. What’s not known to us is when that expiration date will be reached or how it will arrive,” Howell said.
He added that this would likely be the last year he spoke at the memorial. After the service, he confirmed to reporters that due to the nature of his injury, it was highly unlikely that he would ever return to active police duty or to his position as chief.
The day of remembrance on St. Croix concluded at the Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted where approximately 25 officers and family members gathered to remember all deceased police officers, not just those killed in the line of duty.
The group sang gospel hymns as they marched down the pier accompanied by an honor guard. Each mourner took a flower and spoke the name of their remembered loved one as they tossed the flower into the ocean.
Shirley Chapman, sister of Cuthbert Chapman, who was killed in the line of duty in 2004, said she felt it was right for the territory to stop and honor those who have served. Shirley Chapman said she appreciated this day of remembrance and said the VIPD has been like a family.
“They do keep in touch and they’ve been very supportive emotionally,” she said.
On St. Thomas, the day was commemorated with a candlelight vigil at the Alexander A. Farrelly Criminal Justice Complex, followed by the traditional laying of wreaths in memory of officers that had fallen in the line of duty.
Dozens of officers, clad in their uniforms, took part in the event, along with friends and family members of those honored.
"It is important every year for us to pay homage to all the officers that have fallen in the line of duty and to celebrate all that they did to protect the territory while they were alive," said Lt. Rosalyn Jarvis, VIPD’s St. Thomas-St. John traffic commander.
"Being a police officer, we take this job seriously and, for many of us, there is nothing better than being out there serving our community,” Jarvis said. “In celebrating Police Week, we hope that people get a chance to see the work we do.”
