FINDLAY, Ohio — On Monday night, members of the Hancock County community, local police forces and more gathered in Findlay for a memorial service meant to honor both present and past police officers who have worked to create safer communities.
The event was held in honor of National Police Week, May 12-18.
"It's a solemn event, but it's for those that showed the courage, the dedication and the sacrifice they made for each community," said Findlay police chief James Mathias.
Community members packed the risers, located at Fort Findlay Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #20, to listen and watch.
A full crowd was something those in the event were grateful for.
"For Findlay and our community here in Hancock County, we couldn't be prouder of our community," Mathias said. "It shows up every day from the residents and the businesses here in Findlay and in the county."
Part of the service was a guest speaker, Vaune Akers, the widowed wife of former Findlay police officer Doug Akers. He died on New Year's Eve in 2018 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to Vaune, Doug dealt with mental health issues resulting from the demand that being an officer required, and his memory now serves as a reminder of the reality of how the job can affect those who wear a badge.
"They are trained to just keep pushing through, pushing through," Akers said. "There is not enough help for them. The ones that are always helping us? We are not helping them."
Then, there is the danger of the job itself.
In Euclid on Saturday, police officer Jacob Derbin was shot and killed by a suspect who was allegedly fleeing on foot with a weapon. The suspect later died Sunday after a standoff with police.
These realities make the job one that can be hard on a victim's family, and also to recruit as a force.
"Recruitment and retention is getting tougher and tougher each day and it's because of the society we live in," Mathias said. "We have adversarial encounters every day and it leads to these kinds of encounters where young men and women are getting killed in the line of duty."
The memorial service left people in attendance in thought, teary-eyed and thankful for the work that police do every single day.
"I am very honored to be here today and I think that their (police's) ability to stay on task with their job is so challenging," Vaune Akers said. "We just have to keep pushing through it."
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