Kansas City police honor 119 fallen officers with memorial ceremony downtown

A week after its neighboring police department lost a detective in the line of duty, Kansas City police officers clad in dress uniforms lined up solemnly in front of police headquarters downtown Thursday to salute and honor their city’s fallen officers.

A riderless horse, 21-gun salute and flyover by the police helicopter augmented speeches by the police chief and the widow of the last Kansas City police officer shot to death on the job.

The annual memorial service also included a reading of the names of the 119 officers killed in the department’s history, from Martin Hynes in 1881 to Craig Schultz in a 2001 motorcycle wreck.

“We had been fortunate in the Kansas City area not to have lost an officer in the line of duty in some time, but that changed last week,” Police Chief Darryl Forté told the crowd. “Even though he was not a member of our department, we all felt it. … We are affected because it could happen to any of us.”

That death of Kansas City, Kan., detective Brad Lancaster also brought back a flood of memories for Laura Miller-Harmon, whose husband was killed in 1983 by a burglar who had broken into Westport High School to steal candy money from the coaches office.

Before heading out on his dog watch shift earlier that night, Officer Phillip Miller had exchanged normal goodbye chatter with his wife.

She told him she loved him and would see him in the morning, Miller-Harmon recalled Thursday.

But shortly before midnight, someone knocked on her door and said Phil had been hurt. As she arrived at the hospital later, she saw Police Chief Floyd Bartch through a window. She knew the situation was bad.

“Phil died that night from a gunshot wound made with his own gun … protecting the people of this city,” she said.

She urged those attending the memorial service to rally the community to help keep his killer, Ronnie Trotter, locked up by signing a petition against his potential release. Trotter, who is serving two life sentences, has a parole hearing set for July.

Miller-Harmon described her husband as a caring father who loved being a police officer.

“He wanted to put the bad guys away so we could raise our daughter in a safer world.”

She offered prayers for Lancaster’s family, friends and co-workers, and she thanked everyone in attendance for their service.

“You do matter,” she said, “because without you, the world would be a real mess.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Kansas City police honor 119 fallen officers with memorial ceremony downtown."