VGCC Ceremony Honors Fallen Law Officers

Law enforcement is the “deadliest profession in America,” Rufus Sales, director of Butner Public Safety, told officers, students and members of the public attending the Fifth Bi-Annual Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ceremony at Vance-Granville Community College May 11.

During the ceremony, Annette Fowler, vice president of the VGCC Criminal Justice Club, sponsor of the event, read the names of eight officers who died on duty in North Carolina since May 1999.

The slain officers were Robert Y. Clement of Spencer, Richard A. Hillard of Rowan County, Ernest M. Hull of Greene County, Todd Cook of Davidson County, Joseph E. White Jr. of Rich Square, Jeffrey A. Matheny of Craven County, and William B. Davis and John H. Duncan of the N.C. Highway Patrol.

Sales said that a memorial service for slain officers is always painful, but it is also a way to remind others of the perils of law enforcement, of officers who risk their lives each day for the public’s safety.

Citing numerous statistics, Sales said there are currently 675,000 law enforcement officers in the nation. Since accurate records have been kept, 15,400 of those have been killed on duty. One hundred fifty officers died in 2000.

Officer Wayne Long of the Henderson Police Department, a Criminal Justice graduate of Vance-Granville, and Ben Jackson, a current Criminal Justice student, laid a wreath by the VGCC flagpoles. The flags on the poles were lowered to half-staff in memory of the eight slain officers by Office Troy Coghill of Durham Police Department and Trooper L.T. McPhail of the N.C. Highway Patrol, both VGCC Criminal Justice students.

Others participating in the ceremony were The Rev. Frank Sossamon, who sang “God Bless America” and gave the invocation and benediction, Angela Johnson, program head for Criminal Justice at VGCC, Ponchita Baker, Criminal Justice Club president, Sheila Lawton, Criminal Justice Club secretary, and Frances Pettiford, VGCC student who laid a rose at the memorial for each slain officer.

HONORING THE FALLEN

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Henderson Police Officer Wayne Long and Vance-Granville Community College Criminal Justice student Ben Jackson lay a wreath honoring eight North Carolina law enforcement officers slain on duty since May 1999 during a memorial ceremony at the college May 11. A rose for each officer lies at the base of the wreath.