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Police gather to honor fallen officers
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police officers need to get their “revenge” by doing their job and doing it well, Boardman Township Police Chief Jack Nichols said during the annual ceremony to honor fallen officers in Mahoning County at Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Church.
In a moving talk, Nichols, who is retiring in January to cap a 40-year career as a police officer, said the job takes a toll on everyone who performs it.
Some pay the ultimate price, and those gathered Friday came to remember them in the ceremony put on each year by the Fraternal Order of Police lodges from the Youngstown Police Department and Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.
The memorial service honors the 26 officers from nine county departments who died in the line of duty since 1891.
Those who do the job die a little themselves, Nichols said, because of the very nature of police work, where they are exposed to a lot of pain, anger and frustration and often are responding to someone who is in crisis.
“We deal almost exclusively in negatives,” Nichols said. “We deal with hurting people, and often we take that brunt of that toll. They mold you and they shape you. Small pieces of who you are go away forever. We lose small chunks of our life.”
To combat that, officers need to do their jobs with the utmost professionalism and integrity, Nichols said.
“The best revenge is a job well done,” Nichols said.
Judge Anthony D’Apolito of common pleas court also spoke, saying he was not sure he could find words to thank people who work every day risking their lives to protect him.
“How can I honor those who have given so much for me?” Judge D’Apolito asked.
The judge said it amazes him when he reads police reports how officers answer calls where they have no idea what may happen when they get there.
“Yet they go every day and every night without hestitation – they go,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Judge D’Apolito said police officers can be tough enough to deal with the most dangerous people in society and also compassionate enough to deal with crime victims.
Nick DiMarco, an immediate past president of the FOP’s Ohio chapter, said the way police do their jobs makes them heroes.
“They are not heroes for how they died, but for how they lived,” DiMarco said.
Robert Russo, president of the sheriff’s FOP lodge, and Elrico “Ric” Alli, president of the Youngstown FOP Lodge, read the names of the officers who died in the line of duty, and officers and family members placed roses at a wreath in their memory.