From Kim Minugh:
The ceremony happens every year, but the mournful wail of the bagpipes sinks hearts every time.
So began this year's remembrance ceremony at the Sacramento Police/Sheriff's Memorial at Woodlake Park, where officers gather annually to honor those who have died in the line of duty.
On Wednesday, three names were added to the memorial: Sacramento police Officer George C. Chapman, whose 1858 date is on record as the department's first line-of-duty death; sheriff's Deputy Larry Canfield, who died in a November motorcycle accident while enforcing traffic in Rancho Cordova; and retired Deputy Paul DeRouen, who died March 29, 2008, as the result of injuries he sustained 22 years earlier while struggling with a suspect.
They join the ranks of 14 police officers, 16 deputies and one District Attorney's investigator who retired sheriff's Deputy Joe Dean described as "heroes of the community."
Several hundred uniformed officers, local dignitaries and family and friends of the inductees gathered in the warm May sun to pay tribute to the fallen officers. Local community members stopped on their way to and from the nearby light-rail station to watch as bagpipes and drums pierced the air.
Officials thanked family members for their sacrifices and assured that their losses will never be forgotten.
"Your loved ones will always be in our thoughts and our prayers and our memories as we take to the streets every day," said Police Chief Rick Braziel.
Sheriff John McGinness said the annual remembrance ceremony is necessary to express the value society places in law enforcement.
"It's absolutely a time to pause and be grateful for what we had by way of a gift in these individuals," he said.
Chapman, the first inducted in the memorial Wednesday, was fatally shot while responding to a burglary at a downtown clothing store on April 27, 1858. At the time, the 31-year-old Chapman was a "special police officer" - likely akin to today's reserve officer - but it was the city's Fire Department, for which Chapman served as a volunteer firefighter, that took responsibility for honoring him in death.
His headstone can be found at the Old City Cemetery's firemen's plot. On Wednesday, however, a pillar with his name was unveiled at the Police/Sheriff's Memorial.
With no living relatives there for the honors, Officer Paul Brown stood watch. It was Brown who researched Chapman's death and brought it to the attention of local authorities.
Next, authorities inducted Canfield, who died Nov. 12 while trying to overtake a speeding motorist on Coloma Road. A second-generation sheriff's deputy, the 43-year-old Canfield had been with the department 13 years at the time of his death. He was assigned to the Rancho Cordova Police Department's motor unit, and his colleagues stood at attention, with their motorcycle helmets on, as their colleague was honored Wednesday.
His widow, Michelle, attended the ceremony with the couple's two young boys.
Lastly, authorities honored the March 29, 2008 death of Paul DeRouen, a former sheriff's deputy who remarkably survived a dramatic accident while on duty, only to die of complications from his injuries 22 years later.
DeRouen, 27 years old at the time, was wrestling with a suspect along a foggy roadway in Elk Grove when a passing truck struck them. His left leg and part of his hip were severed in the accident, and doctors said the injuries should have been fatal.
Until his death, DeRouen underwent more than 20 surgeries as a result of injuries suffered that day. Because doctors attributed his death to that 1986 accident, authorities consider it a line-of-duty death.
DeRouen's wife, Michele, parents and two children attended Wednesday's ceremony.
McGinness described the deaths of Canfield and DeRouen as "truly a tragic loss we have endured," McGinness said. But he described their example of commitment and duty as "truly a model for the rest of us to follow."
Braziel said the goal of local law enforcement agencies is to never add a name to the Police/Sheriff's Memorial, and lamented the three new additions.
"Let them be the last," he said.
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