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SALT LAKE CITY -- Every day, law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to keep us safe, but sometimes that selfless act ends with the ultimate sacrifice. On Friday, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office paid tribute to those who, they say, died doing what they loved.
At the annual Memorial Service for Fallen Officers, family members, friends and fellow officers were treated to a sweet and somber song played by bagpipers and a 21-gun salute, both in honor of officers lost in the line of duty.
"We have come together to remember people. Remember people, as Sgt. Glassik said, who have really given the ultimate sacrifice," Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said.
People like Deputy Michael Welcker, who was killed in 1994. He was shot to death by an assault suspect he was trying to arrest.
Welcker's death was one of the last for the sheriff's office. It serves as a reminder for those on the force today.
"It's also important for everybody to remember where they came from and what we're here to do. And we, potentially, any of us here, could lose our lives doing this job, but we do it because it's important to us," said Lt. Don Hutson, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The annual memorial service honors the fallen: 11 officers and two crossing guards who died doing the job they loved.
"Individuals that passed in the various circumstances were doing exactly what it was they wanted to do in this life. They were living," Winder said.
The service coincides with the Sheriff's Annual Awards Banquet, a ceremony that gives the sheriff's office a chance to recognize the outstanding work of both sheriff's employees and average citizens. Among them: a deputy who jumped into a pool to save a drowning woman and a sergeant who's spent 37 years keeping the public safe.
E-mail: dwimmer@ksl.com
