Eugene Police honor fallen officers during National Police Week

Eugene Police spent National Police Week honoring three fallen officers whose names still carry weight in Lane County: Chris Kilcullen, Oscar Duley and Jesse Jennings Jackson.

The observance, which runs May 10 through May 16, centers on May 15, Peace Officers Memorial Day, a date designated in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy proclaimed the week and the day of remembrance. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund says more than 21,910 law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice in U.S. history, and federal law requires flags to be flown at half-staff on May 15.

For Eugene and Springfield, the loss feels local and visible. Kilcullen was 43 when he was killed on April 22, 2011, during a traffic stop at Interstate 105 and 52nd Street in Springfield. Oregon state memorial records say he was fatally shot during the stop. He left behind a wife and two children, and the Eugene-Springfield section of OR-126 was later designated in his honor, with Senate Bill 987 directing the Oregon Department of Transportation to place memorial markers along the route.

That road marking keeps Kilcullen’s absence in view for drivers who pass through one of the busiest stretches of the metro area. More than a decade later, the highway designation ties the daily commute to a family loss that reached far beyond the badge.

The memory stretches much farther back than 2011. Oscar L. Duley’s end of watch was Aug. 29, 1930. Oregon memorial records say he was shot and killed during a liquor raid with Lane County Sheriff’s Deputies. Jesse J. Jackson’s end of watch was June 2, 1934, and state records say he died in a motorcycle accident while on duty. Together, the three names connect present-day Police Week observances to more than nine decades of Eugene and Lane County law-enforcement history.

Oregon has its own memorial built for that history. The Oregon Law Enforcement Memorial at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training honors nearly 200 line-of-duty deaths dating back to the 1860s. It was dedicated May 15, 1991, moved to the current Salem academy site and rededicated May 11, 2006. The annual Oregon Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony is held the first Tuesday each May at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem, adding a statewide setting to a remembrance that still lands hardest in the communities where these officers lived and worked.