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On January 3, 1791, Albany County, New York, Constable Darius Quimby was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man on a trespassing warrant. Constable Quimby was the first-known law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty in the United States.
Since that date, over 21,900 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in this country. Each of their stories is told on the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). (To find a fallen officer in the ODMP website, click on "The Officers" and then "search for any officer or agency." The same information can be searched on the "United States, Officer Down Memorials, 1791-2009" database on Ancestry.com.)
Police work is one of those careers that seem to be passed on from generation to generation, and the descendants of police officers are universally proud to talk about their ancestors' accomplishments or to display a family photo of an officer in uniform.
The founder of ODMP, Chris Cosgriff, relies heavily on genealogists to help ensure no hero is forgotten. We can gather here the information on our ancestors who were in law enforcement and that information can also be shared with ODMP.