Waterford's Finest Honored With A New Memorial

This week is National Police Week and each year, Waterford Police Department does something to celebrate.

This year, as always, a number of officers went to Washington D.C. for the annual Candlelight Vigil hosted by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and many attended the annual Blue Mass in Norwich. 

But this year was special because on May 11, Waterford Police Department unveiled a new memorial dedicated to all the police officers who have served the department. 

Bricks with the names of all the police chiefs and all the police commissioners now line the walkway to the department's main entrance. As for the officers who served the department and who have since passed away, there's a permanent memorial with metal plaques and a garden. 

A True Community Effort

Waterford Police Chief Murray Pendleton said the department hatched a plan to create a memorial about six months ago. 

"I was looking to do something to recognize officers and they were looking to do something different [for National Police Week]," he said. "We started talking about it on Facebook and people stepped up and said, 'we'd like to help.'"   

Perhaps the most unlikely help came from Corrigan-Radgowski Correction Center, which brought over a team of inmates who worked on installing the memorial, laying the gravel and doing the landscaping. 

"They created the garden," said Pendleton. "They were phenomenal. They worked hard and their work was precise." 

The sturdy metal memorial plaques were handmade for the department by SECONN Manufacturing, a metal finishing company in Waterford. McClure Sand & Gravel donated the ground cover. Dicin Electric did the lighting, Waterford Country Gardens donated the plants.

Other donations of funds, materials and food for the memorial celebration came from Waterford's Board of Education, Wal*Mart, Lowe's Home Improvement, Coca-Cola, BJ's wholesale, the Society Room of Hartford Catering, Waterford Police Union Local 1948, and from Dan Beale.    

The memorial is still a work in progress, Pendleton said, with more bricks on order and, no doubt, more to be added in the years to come. 

Generations of Police Officers Represented and Remembered

At the recent ceremony, the department's newest police officers stood shoulder to shoulder with veterans on the force and remembered those who had gone before. Guests included Jane Baker, the 90-year-old widow of former Waterford Police Sergeant Harry Baker who, Pendleton said, "was one of the senior sergeants when I got here 47 years ago."

"She was so appreciative as she looked over the site," said Pendleton. "We have been so blessed that we've never had an officer killed in the line of duty, though we've had close calls. We wanted to recognize those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and those who continue to serve and put their life on the line for public safety. That's the true spirit of memorial week."