39°57′32.7″N 83°0′19.9″W / 39.959083°N 83.005528°W | |
Location | Genoa Park, Columbus, Ohio, United States |
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The Columbus Police Memorial is a memorial in Columbus, Ohio's Genoa Park, United States.[1] It has inscriptions of the names of police officers killed while serving,[2] and serves as a gathering site for memorial services.[3] Its dedication ceremony was held on 26 May 2000.[4]
The original drawings for the design was made by Thomas Raymond Hayes,[5] a civilian police artist who became paralyzed during his service as a police officer in 1979 when he sustained a gunshot wound in the back while arresting two drugged teenagers.[6] His name was also etched into the memorial after his death at the age of 61 on 20 January 2011,[6] which was ruled a homicide by the Franklin County Coroner in March 2011.[5]
The monument is approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, made out of Barre Gray granite with polished black standard inserts.[7] Atop the center of its base stands a tapering pillar crowned by a bronze Columbus Division of Police badge with a black mourning band.[4] A plaque beneath the badge reads as follows:[4]
SERVED FAITHFULLY |
Three back-to-back rectangular slabs, bricked up in the base and inscribed with white lettering, list the names of police officers who have died in the line of duty.[8] The name of Columbus SWAT officer Steven M. Smith is currently the last (56th) among them after being engraved on May 11, 2016; he was shot in Clintonville on April 10 of that year and succumbed to his injuries three days later.[1]