Rio Rancho police honor fallen officers in annual memorial ceremony

Families, officers and community members gathered at Veterans Monument Park on Pinetree Road for Rio Rancho’s annual Fallen Officer Memorial, where the department turned a solemn ceremony into a public statement about its history, its losses and its place in New Mexico law enforcement.

Mayor Paul Wymer delivered the traditional memorial speech for the first time, joining Chief Stewart Steele, Lt. Dan Fleming and state public-safety leaders in a ceremony marked by decorated chairs and white roses for each of the department’s three fallen officers. The memorial honored Germaine Casey, Anthony Haase and Gregg “Nigel” Benner, whose end-of-watch dates were listed as Aug. 27, 2007, Oct. 26, 2014 and May 25, 2015.

The names carried distinct stories that still define the department’s memory. Casey died while escorting President George W. Bush on his motorcycle in August 2007. Haase was killed in a single-vehicle crash near Idalia Road and NM 528 while responding to a domestic incident in October 2014. Benner was shot by a suspect during a chase in a parking lot near the memorial site in 2015. Together, they anchored a ceremony that was as much about the people behind the badges as it was about the institution they served.

Steele used the memorial to speak about the department’s history of loss, while families bowed their heads in prayer and officers stood in formation. The imagery of an American flag, a kneeling officer and grieving relatives underscored the department’s message: public safety in Rio Rancho is carried by people whose work continues to exact a personal cost.

The ceremony also reached beyond the city limits. Jason Bowie, New Mexico’s Department of Public Safety cabinet secretary and a former Rio Rancho deputy chief, addressed the families and connected the tribute to a wider statewide law-enforcement community that continues to absorb the deaths of officers. In 2025, officers from RRPD, New Mexico State Police, Corrales Police and other agencies attended the annual memorial, reinforcing that the observance now functions as a regional moment of remembrance, not just a city ritual.

The timing added another layer. National Police Week was being observed this month, with Peace Officers Memorial Day falling on May 15. The observance dates to President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 proclamation, and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported 111 line-of-duty deaths in 2025, down from 148 in 2024. New Mexico also maintains its own Law Enforcement Memorial for officers who sacrificed their lives in the protection of others, a reminder that the grief acknowledged in Rio Rancho is part of a broader public duty still being carried across the state.