GMC observes Peace Officers Memorial Day
May 19—Georgia Military College Prep School observed Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week with a short ceremony Wednesday during morning formation.
Milledgeville and Baldwin County's law enforcement community was well-represented as leaders from many of the local agencies were in attendance.
Started in 1962 with a proclamation signed by Pres. John F. Kennedy, Peace Officers Memorial Day is held May 15 each year to pay homage to those who died while serving in the line of duty. As part of the proclamation, the week surrounding that date is also National Police Week.
"We want to thank everybody who's here demonstrating their support for law enforcement officers, men and women who get up every day and put on uniforms to face challenging and oftentimes dangerous situations to protect all of us and our community," Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, GMC president, said.
Caldwell made it a point to say the names of two GMC alumni who died while working in law enforcement. Former Georgia Bureau of Investigation Milledgeville regional office Special Agent in Charge John "Sonny" King was killed while executing an arrest warrant at a gun shop in Morgan County Sept. 13, 1985. Baldwin County Sheriff's Deputy Will Robinson was shot and killed during a traffic stop of a suspected armed robber Dec. 17, 1995. Robinson's legacy lives on locally through the memorial run held each year in his name. A joint effort of the local sheriff's office and GMC, money raised through the event supports the school's Will Robinson scholarship as well as the sheriff's office's CHAMPS program.
Caldwell then brought up the guest speaker for Wednesday's ceremony. The school tabbed Georgia Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson (R-29) to serve in that role. Robertson is vice chairman of the Senate's public safety committee and serves on the GMC Public Safety Institute advisory council. He worked more than 30 years with the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office before retiring as bureau commander and major in 2015.
Robertson shared a little bit about why law enforcement officers are deserving of the public's support.
"Day in and day out, they have to confront individuals who choose to violate the laws of communities in which every American lives," he said. "They have to put their hands on individuals. They have to place handcuffs on individuals. They have to go into the most desperate situations you could ever imagine, whether it's involving the abuse of a child, the abuse of a spouse, death, or other unspeakable crimes."
The guest speaker said that officers of the law both are and aren't different from everyone else.
"Understand that these men and women who work this tough job that I have described, they are sons and daughters," Robertson said. "They are mothers and fathers. They are grandparents. They are uncles and aunts. They are a part of what we all are, yet they are different."
Robertson added a reminder that will be just as poignant on the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, saying those who pay the ultimate sacrifice die a second time when they are forgotten.
"What we must do to the men and women who die protecting citizens who they serve and citizens they did not know, we owe them the right to never let them be forgotten," he said near the close of his address.
The senator was then joined by GMC Board of Trustees Chairman George Hogan, a former law enforcement officer himself, and Caldwell in laying a wreath at the base of the parade field flag pole. Echoing taps played over the area and the cadet prayer was said before the cadets were dismissed to go about their school day.
