Pasco Honors Fallen Officers

Tampa Bay area residents who want to show their support for local law enforcement are invited to attend the 2015 Pasco Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service set for this Friday.

The event takes place at 10 a.m. on the north lawn of Dade City’s Historic Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave. The keynote speaker is Tarpon Springs Police Chief Robert Kochen, whose agency lost an officer in the line of duty Dec. 14, 2014. Officer Charles Kondek was shot while responding to a routine call.

The memorial also honors the eight officers killed in the line of duty within Pasco County, starting with Deputy Sheriff Sheldon Nicks in 1909 through Hernando County Deputy John Mecklenburg, who was killed in Pasco while pursuing a suspect along U.S. 41 in 2011.

“The Pasco Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service is a time for the entire community to come together and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedom and safety we swear to protect,” said Sheriff Chris Nocco in an email to media.

A number of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies plan to be in attendance at Friday’s memorial.

The following officers have been killed in Pasco County:

Deputy John Mecklenburg/Hernando County Sheriff’s Office

• End of Watch: July 3, 2011

Lt. Charles Bo Harrison/Pasco Sheriff’s Office

• End of Watch: Sunday, June 1, 2003
• Harrison, 56, was shot and killed while on surveillance duty near a Lacoochee nightclub.

Trooper James Bradford-Jean Crooks/Florida Highway Patrol

• End of Watch: Tuesday, May 19, 1998
• Crooks, 23, was shot and killed while chasing a suspect who had killed Tampa police detectives Randy Bell and Ricky Childers.

Deputy Sheriff John Herbert McCabe/Pasco Sheriff’s Office

• End of Watch: Saturday, June 26, 1948
• McCabe, 24, was killed in an on-duty crash on U.S. 41 in the Land O’ Lakes area.

Deputy William Henry O’Berry/Pasco Sheriff’s Office

• End of Watch: Friday, January 1, 1926
• O’Berry was shot and killed while investigating a felony case.

Constable Arthur Fleece Crenshaw/Pasco County Constable and Prohibition Agent John Van Waters U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives

• End of Watch: Wednesday, October 4, 1922
• Crenshaw and Waters were shot and killed during an ambush as they returned from an investigation in the northeast part of Dade City.

Deputy Sheldon S. Nicks/Pasco Sheriff’s Office

• End of Watch: Saturday, May 8, 1909
• Nicks, 23, was shot and killed while helping his father, the Fivay Town Marshal, serve a warrant.

Patch file photo

See Also:

• Pasco’s Fallen Officers Are Not Forgotten

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