Local Chaplain Corps to honor officers
<p>Coeur d’Alene Police Detective Johann Schmitz was a speaker at the funeral of Sgt. Greg Moore on Saturday at Lake City High School. Schmitz was a friend and colleague of Moore’s.</p>
BONNERS FERRY — Five Boundary County law enforcement officials attended the Saturday memorial service for Coeur d’Alene Police Department’s Sgt. Greg Moore.
Moore was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday, May 5.
“It’s the fourth funeral of a North Idaho law enforcement officer I’ve been to and hopefully it’s the last,” said Dave Kramer, retired Bonners Ferry Police Department chief.
Ironically, the Boundary County Chaplains Corp is hosting its annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony today at 7 p.m. After May 15 each year around Idaho services honoring fallen officers are held.
Kramer knew Moore in a professional capacity for about six years. They met through the North Idaho College Basic Patrol Academy, where Kramer is an instructor.
“It was a nice service, but what a tragedy,” he said.
Kramer noted how people came together from many places to pay respects to Moore and his family, including a member of the Chicago PD and law enforcement from Montana.
“It’s nice to see community support when tragedy happens.”
Sheriff Greg Sprungl and Chief Deputy Rich Stephens of the
Boundary County Sheriff’s Office, plus two Bonners Ferry officers and Kramer, who represents the Kootenai Tribal Police, attended Moore’s service.
Moore was shot and killed as he was investigating a suspicious subject who was thought to have been burglarizing vehicles. Moore, a 16-year highly decorated law enforcement veteran, leaves behind his wife Lindy and two children.
The Boundary County Chaplain Corps is holding its annual Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Ceremony to celebrate and honor the lives of Idaho law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Boundary County’s ceremony will be held just east of the Boundary County Public Library.
Vic Watson, Bonners Ferry’s newest police chief, will play bagpipes for the event.
Officials from several North Idaho Law Enforcement agencies will read the names of the 61 Idaho officers who gave their lives protecting the community and defending the freedom and safety of Idahoans.
The public is encouraged to attend and show their support for police who daily put their lives on the line.
• Sixty-one officers in Idaho have been killed in the line of duty.
• In 2013, according to the Idaho Uniform Crime Report recorded 266 assaults against law enforcement officers. The 2014 statistics are due out soon.
• Since records starting being maintained in 1791, more than 20,000 police officers have been killed in the line of duty in the United States.
• An officer is killed at a rate of one every 60 hours.