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The rose stood to symbolize the life of a fallen officer.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Bay County Officers Honored at Police Memorial Service

Selfless Service to all is Remembered

May 17, 2015       Leave a Comment
By: John Keuvelaar

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At a time when the headlines too often are filled with negative images of law enforcement from Baltimore to Missouri and beyond, Friday's Police Memorial Service brought back into focus the valor and humanitarian acts that these brave men and women perform on a daily basis. Held at the Marquette Depot, members of our local police agencies lined the walls in remembrance as members of the community gathered to pay respects to both those that have fallen in the line of duty and just as importantly, those that are now serving our community keeping it safe for us all.


Deputies and other law enforcement officers from around the County saluted their fellow officers.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Fittingly, Officer Brandon S. Murphy of the Bay City Public Safety opened the ceremony by giving the invocation. In February, Officer Murphy was shot in the left thigh after responding to a home invasion and pursuing a fleeing suspect.


Officer Brandon S. Murphy survived a shooting in the line of duty earlier this year.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Bay City Public Safety Director Michael Cecchini was the first of two speakers at the memorial. Director Cecchini emphasized the valor in which law enforcement officers conduct their duties every day. Citing from the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., Director Cecchini quoted: "In valor, there is hope. Valor is defined as great courage in the face of danger; hope is defined as a desire or expectation for a certain outcome," Director Cecchini further pointed out that this year; there has been an 89 percent increase in police officers slain in the line of duty.


Officers line the Marquette Depot in honor of their service.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

The Honorable Harry P. Gill of the Bay County Circuit Court served as this year's keynote speaker. Judge Gill noted, "While it is true that all public institutions need examination from time to time as to their practices and conduct," he focused on all the positive things that our officers do on a daily basis that all too often go unnoticed.


Honorable Circuit Court Judge, Harry Gill, was the keynote speaker.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

While defining what a law enforcement officer is, he noted several examples taken from the local actions of our officers that have gone unpublicized but are part of their daily efforts that go above and beyond their call of duty: buying an electric heater for a family whose furnace isn't working, rescuing of a child suffering the ravages of cruel, unspeakable acts of child abuse and then for years to come visiting the child letting them know they matter, putting victims of domestic violence in touch with local services and buying a toy for a child who is in need to name just a few of their daily humanitarian acts.


Officers saluted the flag after placing a rose on the table in front of it for each fallen officer.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

The service concluded with the remembering of the all too many fallen officers of our local agencies. As the names of the local officers who lost their lives in the line of duty were read, officers from their respective agencies marched forward to place a single rose on the table in front of the black, blue and grey painting of the American flag.


The flag of honor.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Too many roses laid at on the table of honor.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Also in attendance and assisting in placing the rose on the table were Elyce Rexer, widow of Raymond Rexer who along with his partner, Terry Jablonski, were gunned down in an ambush while responding to a domestic violence call in 1991 and Sharon Blust-Harris, the daughter of Ralph Broullire, who drowned in March 1943 while attempting to rescue two boys from an ice floe in the Saginaw Bay.


Sharon Blust-Harris, the daughter of Ralph Broullire placed her father's rose on the table.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Trooper gives comfort to Trooper Ralph Broullire's widow.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Elyce Rexer, widow of Raymond Rexer, joins in the honoring of her husband.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

The service ended with the playing of Taps.

It was a service to truly recognize and remember the literally hundreds of thousands of brave and humanitarian acts that our law enforcement perform on a daily basis.

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John Keuvelaar

John Keuvelaar is a college student at Midwest Photography Workshops and Delta College.

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