The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will host a memorial this Friday to honor officers who lost their lives while in the act of duty.
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said the event is part of National Police Week. Farris said the memorial will honor fallen officers from all over the country.
“We want to honor all of them,” Farris said. “You know, on average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the United States every 60 hours, so it would be shameful to leave everyone out.”
Farris said Putnam County has been lucky to only have four officers who lost their lives while on duty, with the most recent one happening in 1942. Farris said he hopes that the public will attend the memorial.
“The public can certainly come and see how dedicated the individuals who worked for the sheriff’s office as a law enforcement deputy and who their people are here in Putnam County,” Farris said. “We wish everybody to come. This is a time to hopefully everybody takes note and feels the same way we do about fallen officers.”
Farris said in 2024, there were an estimated 147 officers who lost their lives, and five of those officers were in Tennessee. Farris said over the past couple of years, the number of fallen officers during the line of duty has continued to increase.
“I think a lot of that is maybe part of a narrative that just some change that was happening in the country nationwide, but it certainly is something to take note of,” Farris said. “There for several years, the number one cause of death to law enforcement was wrecks, vehicle accidents, but in the last few years it has switched over and it’s violent crime, so it is getting more dangerous to be a law enforcement person, and so those who choose to do that as a professional certainly should be noted and have some special recognition.”
Farris said the families of the four Putnam County officers who have fallen in the line of duty will be in attendance.
The memorial takes place on Friday, May 16, at 10am located at the lower level parking lot at the county jail.
