We hope that everyone will take a moment and reflect on the lives and sacrifices of Leslie J. McDonald, Lafayette Mercer, Owen Burns, Scott Roe, Leonard Lamatrice and Thomas McGough of the Steubenville Police Department; William J. Snider and Michael Maguschak Sr. of the Mingo Junction Police Department; Benton Miller Sr. of the Toronto Police Department; Michael Brandle of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department; and Harding Duval of the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department.

They are the law enforcement officers in our region who have lost their lives in the line of duty, and it’s appropriate that they be remembered as National Police Week comes to an end.

Each of the ceremonies held around the country, whether it was the 36th-annual Candlelight Vigil held Monday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund or remembrances held Monday in front of the Weirton City Building or Tuesday near the fountain at Fort Steuben Park in Steubenville, offered the chance to honor the local officers, the 282 officers whose names were added to the national memorial and the 24,067 officers whose lives have been lost since the first recorded death in 1786.

According to NLEOMF, 136 officers died in the line of duty in 2023, 10 of whom were women.

The average age of the fallen officers was 45, their average service was 15 years and they left behind an average of two children. That total number represented a 39 percent decrease compared with the 224 deaths reported in 2022.

Last year, the deaths of 47 officers were related to firearms, 37 were traffic related and 52 were traced to other causes.

Of the firearm-related deaths, nine happened while officers were attempting to make an arrest; seven happened while officers were handling domestic disturbance calls; six happened while officers were investigating suspicious persons; five each happened during a traffic enforcement incident, while responding to a burglary in progress or through ambush; two each happened while officers were serving warrants, investigating disturbance calls, during tactical encounters and in other circumstances; and one each happened in a training accident or when an off-duty officer intervened during a crime in progress.

Of the traffic-related deaths, 23 happened in automobile crashes, 10 happened when officers were struck and four happened in motorcycle fatalities.

When it comes to other causes, 35 officers died in fatal medical events; five were related to COVID-19; three officers fell to their deaths; two died in aircraft crashes; and one died in each of these categories: Assisting in a fire incident, drowning, being struck by a falling object, being beaten to death, being stabbed to death, being struck by a train and being strangled to death.

Officers in our region were not spared: The NLEOMF reports there were five fatalities in Pennsylvania, three in Ohio and one in West Virginia last year. And, the Officers Down Memorial Page reports that since the late 1700s, 1,108 officers have died in Pennsylvania, 917 have died in Ohio and 228 have died in West Virginia.

Sometimes lost in all of those statistics is that each single number represents a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, an aunt, an uncle, a niece, a nephew, a grandmother, a grandfather, a friend or a neighbor who one day left their home to do their job and never returned.

That’s why we must continue to honor the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the men and women who are willing to put their own safety at risk 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to enforce our laws and protect our communities.