The Odessa Police Department paid its respects to two fallen officers, Cpls. Arlie Jones and Scott Gardner, in a sunrise ceremony Thursday in front of the statue of Saint Michael the Archangel.
The monument also honors Cpl. Abel Marquez, Scott Smith and Gordon Toal.
On Sept. 8, 2007, Jones and Gardner were killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic call. Marquez died of his injuries Sept. 12 and a separate ceremony will be held for him.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of their passing. The Odessa Police Department Honor Guard placed a wreath at the memorial statue on the front lawn of the police department. The wreath was displayed from sunrise to sunset in remembrance of the fallen officers.
Officers, command staff, Mayor Javier Joven, a representative from the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, new recruits and family members were among the attendees.
Chief Mike Gerke said he thinks it’s important that the officers be remembered by the community and the police department, “because in this incident, these three officers responded to a call of domestic violence and were ambushed as they were trying to handle” the call.
Gerke added that the officers made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the woman in the house that had been assaulted.
“… Unfortunately, this is the price that first responders sometimes pay. It’s sad. You think about the families and the children of these men. These actions leave a mark,” Gerke said. “They do. They leave a mark on our community; they leave a mark on our department; they leave marks on the families.”
He added that Jones had worked for the department for more than 20 years as a detective investigating crimes against persons and children.
Gardner was a longtime municipal employee who started with animal control and then became a police officer, Gerke said.
Both were fine individuals, Gerke said.
With Marquez, at one point, they had him and two of his brothers working for the police department.
“As a family, they dedicated themselves to public service, so you can’t say enough about those types of (people),” Gerke said.
Gerke said they started the sunrise ceremony when he became chief.
“There are five, so we do this four times a year because we honor these two on the same day. We just decided … we were going to have a simple, solemn, short ceremony just to commemorate (them). We lay the wreath at sunrise and then the Honor Guard comes back out and takes it down at sunset. It’s just in remembrance of the sacrifice,” Gerke said.
He added that a lot of the people who came out Thursday worked with the fallen officers and knew them personally.
“They were friends, they were coworkers, they were brothers and sisters in arms and those bonds are not easily broken,” Gerke said. “When we say this is our family, this is our family and when you lose a family member you never forget that.”
Gerke said he remembers Jones really cared about the community and children.
He recalled Gardner being a bit of a prankster and someone who kept things “a little light” around the police department.
“That’s always a good thing. But both those guys were really, really hard workers …,” Gerke said.
He added that Marquez was a tremendous artist who could paint and draw.
“I like to think about these guys not so much as what they were in their career, but what they were as people. He was a dad and his children meant a lot to him. His entire family — his mom, his dad, and his two brothers that worked here. They all meant a lot to him, so you think about not just the officers, but think about the human beings that they were,” Gerke said.
Sgt. Tommy Jones, an Honor Guard member, said he has been with the police department for almost 17 years and the incident happened shortly after he came on.
“It never gets any easier. It’s one of those things that we have to honor these guys for,” Jones said.
He added that this ceremony meant a lot to him.
“I’m on the Honor Guard and we travel to different funerals throughout the state … But this is just, knowing these guys first hand, working with these guys, it makes it a little bit different than any other fields. This memorial means a lot,” Jones said.
