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Spokane honors fallen officers at 30th annual memorial ceremony, unveils K-9 memorial

Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, right, and Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, second from right, walk to the Spokane Law Enforcement Memorial to lay a wreath for their respective departments Tuesday, May 8, 2017 during annual service at the memorial. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, right, and Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, second from right, walk to the Spokane Law Enforcement Memorial to lay a wreath for their respective departments Tuesday, May 8, 2017 during annual service at the memorial. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Jonathan Glover jonathanglover22@gmail.com

The Spokane memorial wall of fallen officers that sits behind the Spokane County Courthouse recently was etched with two new names: Officer Reginald Jake Gutierrez of the Tacoma Police Department and Police Chief Randall Scott Gibson, of the Kalama Police Department.

Their memories and stories were read aloud Tuesday at Spokane’s 30th annual Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ceremony, where officials from across the state came to honor those who died in the line of duty since last year’s ceremony.

“It’s days like this that make us reflect on the oath we take to serve this nation, this county, this city,” said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. “May we always remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Gutierrez died while responding to a domestic disturbance call on Nov. 30, 2016. Gibson died after experiencing respiratory distress while performing a high-stress arrest on Jan. 10 of this year. He had been battling lung cancer, according to the Daily News of Longview, Washington. The men joined hundreds of other fallen officers whose names and “end of watch” dates already are carved into the memorial.

New to this year’s service was the unveiling of an additional memorial wall for police dogs that died during the line of duty. It sits next to the larger officer memorial and features 24 dogs that have died since 1981.

There to dedicate the addition was Sam Hovenden of the Washington State Police Canine Association, who told the crowd what it was like to be on a K-9 unit – something he knew from years of experience.

“Having a police dog is a 24-hour job,” he said. “When your shift is over, your work continues. Not only are you always on call but you have a partner to take care of on your days off.”

In 2016, two dogs died in Washington while in the line of duty: K-9 Reefer of the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, and K-9 Patrick, of the Washington State Patrol. Reefer was struck and killed by a vehicle while on duty, and Patrick was euthanized following a medical emergency that couldn’t be fixed in surgery.

Reefer’s partner, Detective Carlos Rodriguez at the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, said Reefer was a “friend and a partner” unlike any he’s ever had.

“I quickly found out Reefer had extremely high drive and getting him to relax is impossible,” he said.

He told the story of when he was trying to relax one night, while Reefer was going through his upper cabinets.

“I told him stop, but that’s not what Reefer wanted to do,” he said. “So Reefer got a new kennel.”

Throughout the ceremony, police chaplains led the crowd in prayer, which consisted mostly of uniformed officers but also featured some notable Spokane leaders, including Mayor David Condon and Philip Tyler, president of the Spokane NAACP.