Susie Burke came to remember her brother, Chattanooga police Officer Clarence E. Hamler, who was shot and killed when he walked in on an armed robbery at a Red Food Store in 1977.
Red Bank Police Chief Larry Sneed stood when the name of his younger brother, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Deputy Lyle Sneed, was called. Lyle "Snake" Sneed was killed in a car accident as he sped to a help call.
Red Bank narcotics Officer Shane Dockery carried a ceremonial rose to honor his father, Walden police Officer Gary Dockery, who was shot while answering a disturbance call on Signal Mountain in 1988. The elder Officer Dockery lay in a coma for nearly a decade before briefly waking and then dying in 1997.
The three were among several hundred family members, friends and police supporters who attended Thursday's Fallen Officers Memorial Ceremony at the Law Enforcement Memorial statue and wall at 600 Market St.
"I've put his rose out (at the memorial) every year for about 6 years," Shane Dockery said of the portion of each yearly ceremony when his father's name is called to honor his sacrifice.
That's also how long the younger Dockery has been a police officer. He was 12 when his father was shot, and in his early 20s when the fallen officer died from his injury.
PDF: Fallen officers
"It's in my blood, I guess," Officer Dockery, now 34, said of joining law enforcement. "It's what I thought it would be and more. I can see myself retiring as a police officer."
The memorial service was a first for Ms. Burke, who learned of the tribute from a police department message left on her late mother's answering machine.
"It was a beautiful service," she said, clasping a portrait of her brother in uniform. He was 28 when he was killed, and he'd been an officer for about three years, she said. "I'll definitely come back again and again for it," she said.
Chief Sneed, who helped his younger brother get into law enforcement, said Lyle, then in his mid-30s, was speeding to a house fire call where it was reported that someone was trapped inside.
"A car pulled out in front of him, and he hit a tree," Chief Sneed said. "The call turned out to be a false call."
Interim Chattanooga Police Chief Mark Rawlston said 48 Chattanooga-area officers since the late 1800s have died in the line of duty, and Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond said policing as a family tradition is common here.
"Many officers here today are carrying a rose in honor of a fallen family member," he said. "And portraits of these officers sit on fireplace mantles all over the country."
U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick, speaker for the event, said that each year more names are added to the law enforcement memorial in Washington, D.C.
"There are 18,983 names engraved there now," he said, "and 116 officers were killed in 2009."
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Article: Ceremony honors fallen Hamilton County law enforcement officers
