Solemn journey for procession carrying statue for slain officers

Robert Macy

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 3:42 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - With emergency lights flashing, a procession of law enforcement vehicles from across Nevada wound its way up the Strip Wednesday on a journey to deliver a statue memorializing officers killed in the line of duty.

The caravan included more than two dozen vehicles from local, county and state jurisdictions, escorting a flatbed truck bearing the $150,000 memorial.

The memorial is a full-size bronze statue of an injured officer being assisted by a fellow officer. Behind the two officers is a list of names of all Nevada officers killed in the line of duty. The 84 names date from the 1861 death of Carson City Sheriff John Blackburn to last month's death of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer Russell Petersen.

The names are engraved on a 20-foot-tall piece of granite in the shape of the state.

"The sad part is there is room for more names," Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller said.

The procession was to make its way to Tonopah Wednesday night, then on to Carson City Thursday, where it will be placed on the grounds of the state Supreme Court building May 13.

The idea for the statue was conceived in 1987, and funding efforts ranged from law officers digging into their own pockets to collection canisters placed in grocery stores.

Keller took special interest in the cause in 1996, and the funding effort received a boost when Sahara Hotel owner William Bennett gave a major contribution. Former Circus Circus Chairman Clyde Turner and MGM Grand founder Kirk Kerkorian followed with donations to put the drive over the top, Keller said.

Fifty vehicles from 22 law enforcement agencies throughout the state are expected to make up the procession, according to Samuel Smith, president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association.

Law enforcement officers from each county were to lead the procession as it made its way north.

There is currently a statue in Las Vegas honoring Southern Nevada officers and another in Reno honoring those in Northern Nevada, but nothing statewide.

Keller said next month's dedication in the state capital would be a solemn occasion for all members of Nevada law enforcement.

"There won't be a dry law enforcement eye in the state," the sheriff said. "If there is, they're too cold-hearted to wear a badge."

"The sole purpose of this event is to honor those brother law-enforcement officers whose names are listed on the memorial," Smith said.

Besides the NHP and police departments and sheriff's offices statewide, the procession also included Clark County School District Police, the U.S. Marshal's office and federal agents with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Nevada.