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Police in Hamilton and Marion Counties honor fallen colleagues

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Members of law enforcement from Hamilton and Marion Counties gathered Wednesday to honor their fallen colleagues.

At Carmel City Hall, Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies joined Indiana State Police and law enforcement from across the area for the county’s 40th annual law enforcement memorial service. The keynote speaker was Dan Calvin, father of Deputy Sheriff Jacob Calvin, who died June 14, 2018.

Carmel mayor Jim Brainard read a city proclamation designating the week of May 15 as Police Memorial Week. He called on all citizens and organizations to join him in commemorating police officers, past and present, for their work.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office held a similar ceremony at the new Community Justice Campus honoring fallen deputies.

Deputies rededicated the fallen deputy monument and read the names and last calls of the 10 deputies who have died in the line of duty since 1961.

Sheriff Kerry Forestal says it’s the right way to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“I think there’s times that we do it for the funeral, for that day, that weekend, and the public recognizes it, but we just don’t go away and forget that,” Forestal said. “We want to come back and remember the decades of people that are here because they gave their lives to people they protected.”

The monument was created by an Indianapolis firefighter in 2010.