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FRUIT HEIGHTS — The funeral for Unified police officer Doug Barney is Monday, and 10,000 people — including 8,000 law enforcers from across the nation — are expected to attend.
Plans are still being made for that funeral, but some people are already getting their homes ready so out-of-area officers have a place to stay without paying for a hotel room.
"People really want to be there for each other at this time," said Janet Thorsted, who has a law enforcement background and lives in Fruit Heights.
And it's times like these, during tragedies, when Facebook can be a sort of comfort.
"We are all brothers and sisters, and whether it's past or present law enforcement or relatives of, we are all brothers and sisters," Thorsted said.
She helps organize events at the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial at the Capitol and got the bad news Sunday that another name is going to be added.
"We went last year without losing an officer, and yet we start this year with one," Thorsted said.
She's been to law enforcement funerals before, both out of state and in Utah, and knows how many officers from out of state arrive to show support. It's a brotherhood, a sisterhood, and one she wanted to help in any way she could.
Thorsted said she saw what a friend had posted on Facebook and liked the idea. So Wednesday night she posted on Facebook: "OUT OF AREA OFFICERS coming to Utah … Officers coming in for Doug Barney's funeral and need lodging, I too have room for a couple officers at my home. Message me. MANY OTHERS have rooms or can help with transportation too!"
OUT OF AREA OFFICERS coming to Utah.... (Good idea Fitzgerald.) Officers coming in for Doug Barney's funeral and need...
Posted by Janet Thorsted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Ever since, others have commented that they, too, have rooms for officers traveling for the funeral.
"That's what we do, and I think other states do that as well," Thorsted said. "That's exactly what we do. You just automatically, we bleed blue as everybody says, and it's just automatically their kin, and when they're coming into town, we want to treat them like family. We want to pick them up and tell them everything about the area."
Raelene Eppard is one of those who commented and offered two rooms of her own. She's also a constable with Salt Lake County, so she knows what that brotherhood means.
"I don't care if it's a stranger coming into my house, it doesn't matter," Eppard said. "He's still my brother or sister."
Thorsted said she really isn't surprised by all the people offering rooms. It's the least she can do, she said, to help those coming to Utah for one of its fallen heroes.
"If they're willing to take time away from their family and their work to fly here for a funeral, to honor our loved one, they are our family," Thorsted said.
If you would like to donate a room to an officer visiting, email Alex Cabrero atacabrero@ksl.com.
