This week is “National Law Enforcement Week” with this past Tuesday being, “Law Enforcement Memorial Day.” But, local law enforcement held their own ceremony Friday where officers across the state who died in the line of duty were honored and remembered.

The ceremony Friday was held in front of the Law Enforcement Center and included Reno County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Darrian Campbell who has also served as a Marine Corp. Sgt., and in the National Guard. He’s served three recent tours of duty during three military operations. They included “Operation Noble Freedom,” Operation Iraqi Freedom,” and “Operation Enduring Freedom.”

He talked to the crowd not only about law enforcement and this memorial ceremony, but also Memorial Day and what it’s really all about, honoring those in the military who died in the line of service. He says to many just see that holiday as a day off from work, and aren’t willing to pay tribute to those who make the holiday possible.

The ceremony also included a special appearance by Miami Florida Police Lt., Joe Schillaci, from A&E’s First 48. We talked with him after the ceremony and he told us what this week means to him. He admits that he’s an emotional guy and showed that in his response.

He says, “it’s always been difficult for me to attend these ceremonies because I’m a very emotional man.” He says he was asked to be a keynote speaker at an event in Cleveland, Ohio and he told them he would be honored, but really wanted to talk about the living. He referred to them as the people who made it possible for them to put there lives on the line. He says, “I don’t want to not honor the fallen, because that is what this day is all about, but sometimes we forget in these memorials, that while we honoring the fallen, we forget to honor the heroes that are amongst us, and the most important people in hour lives and that’s our families.”

He went on to say that family is the core of this country. He says, “it’s the core of what we stand for as a nation, it’s what we stand for as a people.” He adds without it, “we have nothing and nobody knows that more then I do.”

He also talked about how his family has stood by him as a law enforcement officer through many things in his 30-year career with the Miami Police Department. He told us, “I have been beaten beyond recognition, I’ve been shot at, have been shot, thought I was dying and saying goodbye to my family, I had to take the life of young man who tried to take the life of my partner, I have put my family through everything.”

He went on to talk about family and how important those members really are and about his own experiences in Miami including not being with his family during a hurricane.

He says that included a phone call from his wife during a major hurricane where she thought they had an intruder on their roof, when it fact it was their roof coming apart because of the high winds.
Schillaci became a bit emotional when he talked about that incident. He says he couldn’t be there to protect my family, because he took an oath to protect the citizens of Miami. But, he says, “my family understood that and respected that, even though I knew at any moment, they could have been wiped out in that hurricane.”

That was one of thing brought during the ceremony that by Schillaci is that while society is sleeping, law enforcement are watching, 24-7, 365 days of the year, including the major holidays. He says the police uniform is a “symbol of freedom.”

Hutchinson Police Officer Lorenzo Bohringer who mention all of the fallen officers across the state including that Harvey County Sheriff who was killed in April of 2005 at the age of 38.

“Taps” came from Jeff Pelischek, Hutchinson Community College Director of Bands along with the Reno County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard with the flag. (Watch video below)