Eternal Vigilance: Honoring Sedgwick County’s Fallen Officers

Each year during the second week of May law enforcement agencies across America remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep the peace in their communities. 

Since 1871, 33 law enforcement officers in Sedgwick County have fallen in the line of duty. The Wichita Eagle specified 23 Wichita Police officers and 10 Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies. 

The memorial, at the southwest corner of Central and Main next to City Hall, was built with all donations totaling more than $600,000.

Artist Connie Ernatt was chosen to create the memorial.

Ernatt also created “The Troll” a 2007 art installation in a storm drain near the “Keeper of the Plains.”

When viewed from above, the memorial looks like a badge with a black granite bench representing the black mourning band officers wear in remembrance of a fallen comrade.

It has a large open space for gatherings and a secluded walkway where visitors can honor the fallen officers.

The centerpiece of the memorial is a larger than life-size bronze statue of two lions, one male and one female, watching over the community. The 1 ton lions are stylized to look like statues carved in old school Europe.

Ernatt told the Eagle in 2008, “Lions were chosen for the memorial because it is the animal that most characterizes what law enforcement represents, they’re the protector, and courageous.”

The lions stand at the base of a column topped by a blue flame. The flame has an LED light inside the blue colored glass hand-blown by Karg Art Glass in Kechi. Ernatt told the Eagle in 2009, “It hasn’t ever really been done before, in theory it should work.”

Bronze replicas of the United States and Kansas flags stand between the lions. Behind a wall there is a meditation area where each of the fallen Sedgwick County officers is represented with a plaque and a pair of bronze boots or shoes. “The badges and boots add a sobering reality to what otherwise might seem like an impersonal memorial,” Ernatt said.

Ernatt used the actual shoes of several of the fallen officers to mold their tributes.  Some shoes just represent the style at the time the officer fell.

One tribute only has one boot and a footprint, that is dedicated to Lt. John Galvin, who lost his leg in the explosion that killed him.

The memorial was dedicated in April 2011. 29 officers were honored from Deputy Sheriff Carlos King in 1871 to Deputy Brian Etheridge in 2009.

According to the Sedgwick County website, since the memorial was dedicated 3 officers and 2 K-9 officers have been killed in the line of duty. The last plaque added to the memorial was Deputy Kunze in 2018.

Chief Norman Williams told the Eagle in 2008, “I can tell you we will always remember, our fallen heroes are never forgotten,” adding, “They’re forever on duty protecting our families, our friends and our communities.”

There is room at the memorial for 56 officers.

Remembering those that lost their lives serving the people of Sedgwick County