• CEREMONIES AND PARADE THURSDAY MAY 17
• OPEN HOUSES AT EACH DISTRICT
• AWARDS BANQUET 7:00 PM THURSDAY MAY 17 AT SHARONVILLE CONVENTION CENTER

Hamilton County’s law enforcement community will mark Police Memorial Week May 13-19 with events and ceremonies to honor officers killed in the line of duty.  President Kennedy signed the law creating National Peace Officers Memorial Day in 1962.  Ceremonies and the traditional parade for Hamilton County’s Law Enforcement Community will take place Thursday May 17. 

Each Cincinnati Police District will hold an open house welcoming the public to meet the officers who serve their neighborhoods.  Demonstrations and displays from Canine, SWAT, Mounted Patrol, Underwater Search and Recovery, and the Crime Scene Van will provide a look at law enforcement operations.  The schedule for these open houses is:

• Monday May 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - District 5, 1012 Ludlow Ave.
• Tuesday May 15, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. -  District 4, 4150 Reading Road
• Wednesday May 16, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - District 3, 3201 Warsaw Ave.
• Thursday May 17, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. -  District 1, 310 Ezzard Charles Dr.
• Friday May 18, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - District 2, 3295 Erie Ave.

Police Memorial Day services and parade take place Thursday May 17, beginning at noon at the Procter and Gamble Central Gardens at Fifth and Sycamore Streets. Police chaplain the Reverend Mark Pruden will deliver the invocation, and Kathleen Harrell, President of Fraternal Order of Police Queen City Lodge #69, will offer welcoming remarks.  Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher, Jr. and Mayor Mark Mallory will address the assembly.  Ms. Barbara George will deliver the keynote address. 

Ms. George’s husband, Police Officer Clifford George, was killed in the line of duty April 16, 1987.  He had responded to an address on Vine Street where a woman was having trouble with her brother.  Officer George spoke with the brother and he agreed to accompany the officer to the bus station and buy a ticket for Dallas, Texas.  As they approached the officer’s vehicle, the man – later found to have a quantity of cocaine in his system – became agitated and began to struggle with the officer.  During the struggle, the man took Officer George’s gun from its holster and shot him.  The bullet entered the top of Officer George’s shoulder and traveled down into his chest; the officer fell to his knees, mortally wounded.  His assailant then fired twice at witnesses and returned to shoot the officer again, this time in the back of the neck.  The gunman then fled through the back yard into a wooded area, where responding officers and police canine Bandit found him still carrying Officer George’s sidearm.  He ignored orders to drop the weapon and instead raised it toward the officers.  Bandit lunged at him.  The suspect and the officers fired.  The suspect and Bandit were killed, and Officer Gerald Norton was struck in the leg by the same bullet that killed Bandit.  Officer George was taken to University Hospital, where he died.  Officer Norton was treated and released. 

Following the keynote address, President Richard W. Kessler of the Fraternal Order of Police Associates, State Lodge of Ohio, will announce winners of the Hamilton County Law Enforcement Community’s Police Appreciation and Achievement Awards [listed at the end of this release]. 

The parade will include representatives from law enforcement agencies throughout the area, as well as family, friends and supporters.  It will form at the conclusion of the program and proceed north on Sycamore Street to Sixth Street; west on Sixth to Vine Street; north on Vine Street to Central Parkway; and west on Central Parkway to Ezzard Charles Drive and the Police Memorial. 

At the Police Memorial, the changing of the guard will open the program.  F.O.P. President Kathleen Harrell will speak.  Presentation of floral tributes, a riderless horse, a flyover in the “missing man” formation, and a 21-gun salute in these ceremonies symbolize our loss and honor the memory of police officers who have given their lives in the line of duty. 

The Hamilton County Law Enforcement Community’s Police Appreciation and Achievement Awards will be presented following their 40th annual awards dinner at 7:00 p.m. Thursday May 17 at the Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road.  Awards will be presented to the following:

• Act of Bravery:
  • Police Officer Scott Jenkins, Harrison Police Department
• Contribution to Law Enforcement: 
  • Police Officer Mark Bode and Police Officer Chris Vogelpohl,  Cincinnati Police Department
• Police Work with Children:
  • Police Officer Eric Dunn and Police Officer Kathy Horn, Cincinnati Police Department
• Outstanding Job of Traffic Enforcement/Education: 
  • Corporal Brian Shepherd, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
• Best Overall Investigative Job Leading to the Solution of a Crime:
  • Sergeant Ron Reckers, Detective Randy Fore, Detective Andy Guy, and Detective Ken Schweinefus, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
• Superior Achievement in Police Leadership:
  • Captain Andrew Raabe, Cincinnati Police Department
• Most Constructive Plans or Ideas for Improvement of Police Operations:
  • Sergeant Donald Schroder, Cincinnati Police Department
• Superior Achievement in Professionalism:
  • The Reverend Father Bruno Kremp, Police Chaplain
• Citizen Award:
  • Doctor O’dell Owens, Hamilton County Coroner
• Corporate Award:
  • Ford Motor Company