Stark County honors police officers killed in the line of duty

CANTON, Ohio – Stark County on Friday remembered its police officers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

The county observes National Peace Officers Memorial Week by honoring the lives of Canton and Massillon deputies and police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“It certainly reminds the people who are here, the law enforcement people who are here, that if God doesn’t like it, I’m leaving, and it could be any of us any day” when we leave the house “We really don’t know if we’re going to get home safely or not,” said Stark County Sheriff George Maier

Among the people remembered at Friday’s ceremony was Deputy Sheriff Richard Harmon, who was killed while helping another police officer on Route 43 near Waco.

On September 3, 1981, his patrol car was hit from behind by a drunk driver who drove off the road.

“We were proud of my brother, who served in the Air Force in the Vietnam War and then of course came back to become a deputy sheriff,” said his brother Tom Harmon, who attended the ceremony.

“The day my brother was killed, it was hard having to make that journey to tell the mother that her firstborn was killed in the line of duty,” Harmon said.

Friday’s ceremony included a roll call for those who have died in service over more than a century.

“These men and women have been through difficult times and overcome adversity and truly gave their lives for each and every one of us,” said Canton Police Chaplain Pastor George Lancaster.

It also means that officials in the canton and across the country are being scrutinized and their actions and motives are being questioned.

“We are definitely under scrutiny. That’s fine. Fine by me. As a leader, that’s okay. I challenge my people, I train my people so they can get better every day,” Maier said.

“When I hire new people, I usually ask them, ‘Why are you here?’ What makes you want to be here as a future police officer?’ And the most response I get is that they want to help people, and that’s why I remind them that you have to keep that attitude for the next 30 years, you’re here to help people, you are here to serve his community.”

The ceremony should also serve to recognize the work of those who currently wear the uniform and who have followed in the footsteps of those whose sacrifices are being honored.

“Appreciate those who serve the men and women in any capacity, the highway patrol, the sheriff, the city police departments and the village police, they are there to serve. “They’re not all perfect, they all have different types of lives and lifestyles, but at the core they’re there to protect us and we appreciate that,” Harmon said.