DPD to observe Peace Officers Memorial Day with ceremony, cookout

Published 7:45 pm Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The Dalton Police Department will host a ceremony on Tuesday, May 15, to observe Peace Officers Memorial Day.

The ceremony will be held near the Chief William Hannah Police Memorial on the grounds of the Police Services Center at 3 p.m. In the event of rain, the ceremony will be held inside the Police Services Center. Afterwards, the department will serve a light meal of grilled hot dogs and chips. The public is invited.

The ceremony will continue the department’s tradition of observing National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day. The ceremony will include a presentation by the department’s honor guard and a recognition of all Georgia law enforcement officers lost in the line of duty in the past year.

The Chief Hannah Memorial was dedicated at the department’s Peace Officers Memorial Day observance in 2014 and stands in honor of Chief William “Bill” Hannah, a former chief of the Dalton Police who was killed in the line of duty in 1899. The marker also bears the name of Officer Maurice William Phillips Sr. who was killed by an accidental gunshot during training in 1956. The memorial marker stands near the intersection of Jones Street and Waugh Street.

May 15 was declared to be National Peace Officers Memorial Day by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. President Kennedy further declared the week in which Peace Officers Memorial Day falls to be National Police Week. This year, Police Week runs from Sunday, May 13, through Saturday, May 19.