Douglas County deputies honor fallen officers at Colorado memorial ceremony

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly joined Colorado law enforcement leaders Friday in Golden as the state memorial added 24 more fallen officers, pushing the total number of engraved names from 365 to 389.

The ceremony at the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial, on the grounds of the Colorado Law Enforcement Training Academy at Camp George West, included the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard, a rifle salute, taps and the Colorado Emerald Society Pipe Band. The folded Colorado flag and the names spoken at the memorial put the focus on the cost of police work, especially for families who carry the loss long after the ceremony ends.

The memorial tradition is held each year on the first Friday in May. Colorado State Patrol says the memorial began with an idea from FBI Special Agent Ted Rosack in 1978, and 105 names covering deaths from 1881 through 1979 were approved when it was dedicated on May 1, 1979. A 1998 state resolution later declared it the official memorial for Colorado officers who died in the line of duty. The state says the site also recognizes Colorado officers who died in surrounding states after Colorado became a territory on Feb. 28, 1861.

Douglas County has its own direct ties to that history. The sheriff’s office memorial at the courthouse honors four deputies: Sgt. Wayne Bryant, who died in the line of duty on March 2, 1978; Deputy Ron King, May 21, 1999; Deputy Zack Parrish, Dec. 31, 2017; and Detective Joe Pollack, Dec. 9, 2021. Family members of those fallen officers were also part of the remembrance, including the Pollack family and the daughter of Ron King.

In a memorial post, Undersheriff David Walcher said each engraved name represents more than a badge number and reflects the people and families behind the loss. That message landed plainly in Golden, where the growing wall of names served as a reminder that the dangers faced by deputies are not abstract. For Douglas County, the ceremony was both a formal tribute and a reminder of the work still required to recruit, train and retain officers who take on that risk every day.