Law Enforcement To Honor Fallen Oklahoma Officers

The State Department of Public Safety and law enforcement will honor fellow officers who died in the line of duty.

The names of 11 fallen officers will be added to the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial Friday morning in addition to one K-9 who died in the line of duty.

This is the oldest state memorial honoring fallen officers in the U.S., established in 1969.

The officers being honored Friday are from different time periods throughout Oklahoma history, from all the way back to 1910 to 2021.

Among those honored will include Sgt. Craig Johnson from the Tulsa Police Department. Johnson was shot and killed in the line of duty last year by a suspect during a traffic stop.

In total, more than 800 officers across all departments have died in the line of duty here in Oklahoma.

The chairman of the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial said it's important to remember the impact each of them made.

"Not all of them were shot and killed, some were car accidents, and some were hearts attacks. Different on duty reasons, but they all wanted to make their communities safer," Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial chairman Dennis Lippe.

The 53 annual law enforcement memorial service will start at 10 a.m. Friday.