OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PODCAST
/By: Sheriff Scott Rose
In today’s era where anti-law enforcement rhetoric fueled by misguided movements and special interest groups seems to be the new daily narrative for national media and political leaders, we are losing more heroes than ever in our communities. In 2020, including COVID-19 deaths, we lost 343 heroes across the country, compared to 149 the year before, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page (odmp.org). ODMP reports that in the first 45 days of 2021, we’ve already lost 44 as of this writing.
When we lose an officer, whether the officer was brutally killed or dies from COVID-19 complications, it sends a ripple effect through that agency, that community, that state and our country– in addition to the devastating effects on the surviving family. When the funeral is done and the phone stops ringing, we often times stop talking about our fallen hero. For some extended family members, they shy away from talking with the immediate survivor family feeling awkward and uncomfortable. Many officers stop visiting and stop talking for fear of upsetting someone. These are natural human reactions to dealing with the stress of losing a loved one. However, silence, more often than not, tends to re-victimize survivor families and agencies much more than even the most awkward of conversations.
Most states have law enforcement memorial associations and groups supporting survivor families and agencies that do a great job each year remembering our fallen heroes. In Minnesota, the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association does an incredible job of supporting the survivors and honoring the fallen. I currently serve on their board of directors as well as the board for the Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation of SE Minnesota – another group that is doing amazing things to honor our fallen.
After growing up in SE Minnesota, and attending broadcasting school in Arizona, I worked as a production director and announcer for radio stations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota. By my late 20s, I switched gears and ended up going back to school to earn a law enforcement degree, which landed me back with the same agency that my father was serving as a deputy – the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. He had worked his way up the ranks and was elected sheriff in November of 2014.
Fast forward 25 years. Having worked with surviving families and agencies and learning more details about the heroes we’ve lost, I felt it was important that we start telling “The Rest of the Story” in a way that people could get to know and learn about that officer and that era. This led to the creation of this podcast.
The Officer Down Memorial Podcast is an audio podcast sharing the stories of these men and women in a storytelling format. In each episode, I set the stage sharing historical notes from that era, taking you back in time, and placing you there at the incident using data compiled from agency reports along with comments from the officers who were there, and the families who were left behind. Older stories are compiled with data from various history archives, newspapers, agency data, etc. The mission of this project is to tell the real stories of these men and women and ensure their service and sacrifice is never forgotten.
In Minnesota, these stories are also being added to the state’s memorial website, giving readers an opportunity to hear the entire story of these heroes.
Another mission of this podcast is to help survivor families and agencies whose fallen officer’s killer is up for parole. I work with fallen officer agencies and families to write and produce their hero’s story which can be used to educate their community and region on the history of their fallen officer - on how he/she was lost, and on the killer who’s up for parole. The goal is education - to encourage support of the family and agency, and to encourage the community to get involved and send letters to the state corrections board in support of the fallen officer. Recently, the Robert Lawson story was used to help generate several hundred letters sent to the Minnesota State Department of Corrections to help encourage the board to keep the Itasca County Minnesota Deputy’s killer in prison. In that hearing 10 years was added to his sentence on Jan. 12, 2021.
This podcast started in November of 2020. I currently do the research, audio production, editing, and hosting. Stories are released every other Friday with additional/related stories and interviews added, too. In addition to Minnesota stories, I’m now working with agencies in Nebraska and Wisconsin.
You can find more information about the podcast at www.officerdownmemorialpodcast.com and subscribe and download on your favorite podcast app.
Sheriff Scott Rose is a second-term sheriff for the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office in SE Minnesota.He serves on the board of directors for the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association and Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation of SE Minnesota.Prior to law enforcement he worked as an audio production director and announcer for broadcasting companies in Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota.
