{"id":170763,"date":"2021-08-02T13:32:58","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/?p=170763"},"modified":"2021-08-02T13:32:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:32:58","slug":"cops-service-of-remembrance-police-family-gather-to-remember-thousands-of-police-officers-who-have-died-on-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/?p=170763","title":{"rendered":"COPS Service of Remembrance: Police family gather to remember thousands of police officers who have died on duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Police Family gathered on Sunday to remember thousands of police officers who have died on duty \u2013 and to support family members left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There were tears and laughter during the Annual Care of Police Survivors Service of Remembrance took place at the National Memorial Arboretum \u2013 for the first time since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The service was attended by more than 800 people and events took place all weekend for surviving family members.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Essex Police officer and Federation Rep Steve Martin said \u201cDespite the service being very sombre and emotional, the day itself has a sense of unity. Everyone comes together to support one another and remember their family, friends and loved ones\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Service featured a Roll of Honour sadly featuring 27 police officers and staff who had died on duty since everyone last met in July of 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Their names were read out by COPS President Gill Marshall and included PC Andrew Harper and Sgt Matt Ratana.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Survivors Sam Dixon (wife of TVP officer James \u2018Dixie Dixon), Shonagh Gawthorne (wife of Fife officer Temp Sgt Alasdair Ferry) and Ali and Sandi Gibb (parents of Met Officer PC Daniel Gibb) spoke movingly and with good humour recalling their police officer loved one who had been lost on duty and also importantly of the support the Charity COPS offers family members of deceased police officers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ali recalled the first time they came to the service 11 years ago. \u201cWe cried. We cried. We cried some more. But it was here we met others who understood our pain. No one stared, no one looked at us strangely. We even were able to smile and have a little laugh in their company. In those 11 years we\u2019ve become stronger.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know the love and support we\u2019ve had through contact with COPS Survivors has helped us along the way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sam said: \u201cThis is the third survivor weekend I\u2019ve attended and through COPS and attending these weekends I\u2019ve made some invaluable and no doubt lifelong friends. A shared sense of loss that brings us together.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cA union that COPS makes happen and prides itself in creating. A union that isn\u2019t offered elsewhere for our unique circumstances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Blue Knights motorcyclists \u2013 long-time supporters of the Charity \u2013 were first to arrive this morning at the thankfully dry service.<\/span><\/p>\n

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They were shortly followed by more than 400 cyclists from the Annual Police Unity Tour. The bumper event \u2013 with riders starting their journeys now from all across Britain \u2013 culminated at the Service and is expected to raise some \u00a3100,000 for the Charity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Steve, who took part in the Unity Tour in memory of his friend and colleague Drew Kirk who was killed in a road traffic collision in December of 2020 added \u201cDrew was larger than life in every possible way. One of the friendliest guys you\u2019ll ever meet and a lot of people miss him.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is the 6th<\/sup>\u00a0time I\u2019ve ridden in the Unity Tour and I do it because for me it means a lot. It means a lot to families that you ride for, and also from a personal point of view you\u2019re involved in an event that means a lot to a lot of people.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe faced biblical rain on Friday with headwinds and it just felt like continual riding, but we got through that and we do it because at the end of day 3 we\u2019re here at the service and you\u2019re involved in a really moving ceremony.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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There were also chief officers from all UK forces and representatives from staff associations among those who took time to honour fallen officers and lay wreaths. The West Midlands Police band and a piper provided accompanying music.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Police Family gathered on Sunday to remember thousands of police officers who have died on duty \u2013 and to support family members left behind. \u00a0 There were tears and\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171035,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170763\/revisions\/171035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/170864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}