Yuma police honor fallen officers at 49th annual memorial service

Yuma’s law enforcement community marked its 49th annual Memorial Day Service on Friday with a formal tribute that linked the city’s fallen officers to the people still serving today. The gathering at the Fallen Officer Monument was both a remembrance and a public show of support for officers working in a dangerous profession that remains central to life in Yuma County.

The service included a 21-gun salute by the Yuma Police Department Honor Guard, a solemn tradition that set the tone for the one-hour program at the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex, 1700 E. 8th St. The City of Yuma has said the memorial service begins at 7 p.m. and has invited the entire community and media to attend in previous years, underscoring the citywide role the observance plays each May.

Francisco Saenz, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Yuma Lodge #24, said the purpose of the service is to remember officers and to give families a moment dedicated to what their loved ones did in service to the community. Yuma Police Chief Thomas Garrity said the officers being remembered made the ultimate sacrifice for a community they cared about, and he noted that the annual observance also serves as a reminder of what officers do every day.

The memorial has become a fixed point on Yuma’s civic calendar because it honors more than a symbolic history. It brings together families, law enforcement agencies and community members to recognize the 37 officers who have died while serving the citizens of Yuma County. The earliest recorded line-of-duty death on the memorial wall is Yuma County Sheriff Cornelius Sage, who was killed on May 3, 1865, placing the local tradition of sacrifice more than 160 years deep.

City officials have said the plaques on the memorial wall represent more than officers alone. They also stand for family members, friends, colleagues and neighbors who carry the loss when an officer dies. That is part of why organizers say public recognition still matters now: the service keeps those names visible, reminds current personnel that the community sees their work, and gives Yuma a shared place to honor duty, sacrifice and the daily risks tied to public safety.