Posted: May 13, 2024 in City News
Dear Community Members,
National Police Week runs from May 12-May 18, 2024. National Police Week is a symbolic time for law enforcement officers across the nation. This week is a time of thanks for the men and women in uniform that serve their communities with diligence and trust twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. These officers serve regardless of weather and regardless of political climate-they serve when people “like” the police, as well as when they don’t. They miss holidays and birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. They miss the first day of school, the last day of school, and a lot of “school things” in between. This week though, these “sacrifices” seem small. Law enforcement officers know all too well the true sacrifice that policing can ask of its men and women. National Police Week is also when we spend time remembering the true cost. At the close of 2023, 136 federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty. 2023 was an anomaly and showed a 39% decrease from 2022, in which 224 officers were killed. Thus far in 2024, a total of 58 line of duty deaths have occurred.
Over the course of her history, Iowa has lost a total of 220 police officers to a line of duty death. Personally, since my career began in 1997, Iowa has lost 23 officers, from vehicle crashes to felonious assaults. KILD-Chrona.pdf (iowa.gov) In most recent years, these losses have geographically hit particularly close to home. These numbers represent people-people with families that continue to carry the sting of their loss. These numbers rest heavy on the hearts and minds of police officers, especially this week, as we pay tribute and remember those who have paid the ultimate price. This is the sacrifice.
It is not just the officers that carry this weight of what-if, but their families as well. Moms, dads, spouses, children, and other friends and colleagues also learn to find balance in their worry and their respect. I would be remiss to not offer my sincere thanks to the friends and families of the Decorah Police Officers, the Winneshiek County Deputies, the State Patrol officers assigned to our area, and our additional law enforcement partners that help us keep our part of Iowa safer for you. Without their support what we do would not be possible.
Locally, our officers know they work in a community that supports them. We are blessed to call Decorah and Winneshiek County our home and honored to serve her citizens selflessly. As I celebrate and reflect during National Police Week 2024, I am thankful. I am thankful for our police, sheriff’s deputies, and troopers. I am thankful for the tactical officer, the negotiator, the investigator, the evidence technician, the crime scene processor, the motor vehicle crash reconstructionist, the K9 handler, and the patrol officer. I am humbled to work amongst some of the best professionals in the State of Iowa. I am thankful for the opportunity to do so. May this week continue to be a sacred time in the hearts and minds of us all, and I selfishly ask for it to be a safe week.
Respectfully,
Chief Tricia Thein