Thursday, April 9, 1998 | 9:35 a.m.
Driving in a caravan of police cars accompanying a life-size bronze statue in memory of slain officers means a lot to Bob Milby.
With warning lights flashing and sirens blaring, Milby, a supervisor with the Nevada Division of Investigations, joined officers from agencies throughout the state for a 450-mile drive from Las Vegas to Carson City.
"It means we remember the slain officers who have died in the line of duty," Milby said before the procession wound its way Wednesday morning along Las Vegas Boulevard before turning onto U.S. 95 and heading north.
Milby represented one of 22 law enforcement agencies throughout the state accompanying the memorial on a flat-bed truck on its two-day trek to Carson City. He lives in Carson City, but said it was essential that he drive the entire route to the state capitol.
"I worked with some of the officers who died in the line of duty," Milby said. "I think it's very important that we represent those slain officers."
"It's been a long time coming," Henderson Police Capt. Rich Perkins told the officers before they headed for Tonopah, where they stopped overnight. Today they were scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. to finish the final leg to Carson City.
The memorial took 11 years to realize, Samuel Smith, secretary-treasurer of the Nevada Law Enforcement Police Officers Memorial Commission, said.
The memorial is a full-size bronze statue of an injured officer lying on the ground with a fellow officer kneeling by his side. Behind the officers is a 12-foot piece of black granite in the shape of the state with a list of the 84 officers killed in the line of duty since 1861.
That year, Carson City Sheriff John Blackburn was killed. This year, Metro Police Officer Russell Petersen and University of Nevada, Reno Police Officer George Sullivan died. The granite will list up to 130 names.
"You have the solemn duty of escorting the memorial to its final resting place," Smith told the officers.
He said the two officers cast in bronze "represent an emotional image" of slain officers. Funding for the $150,000 memorial came from private donations, he said. Daniel Lareau, construction manager for the memorial, helped design the statue, Smith said.
The memorial was being delivered to Carson City in preparation for the May 18 national law enforcement memorial ceremony in Washington, D.C. Carson City will hold its own ceremony on May 13, Smith said.
But the procession first made its way past Las Vegas City Hall as Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced a bill providing $187,000 for bullet-resistant vests to protect officers.
Nationwide, 1,182 officers have been shot to death in the line of duty since 1980, according to the FBI.
"Four hundred lives could have been saved had they been wearing bullet-proof vests," Reid said.
Del Papa said 38 attorneys general across the country signed a letter asking for the legislation. Reid said he expects it to be passed into law this year. The money will go to the smaller agencies in the state who can't afford to buy vests, he said.
"They're an absolute anymore," Reid said, "and the smaller agencies can't afford to buy them."
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