Dear Editor,
Friday, May 15, is National Peace Officer Memorial Day.
In accordance with federal law and in observance of this day, the flags at the Putnam County Courthouse, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, PCSO Lake Oconee Precinct, Lake Sinclair Marine Patrol Station, and Lake Oconee Marine Patrol Station will be lowered to half-staff all day May 15 for National Peace Officer Memorial Day.
One hundred and eleven law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty last year. Four of the officers who lost their lives in 2025 were Georgia officers, and two of them were Deputy Sheriffs.
Those numbers are the lowest we have seen in decades, but the number of officers being shot last year was the highest ever. There have been over 2,000 law enforcement officers shot in America in just the last five years. Law enforcement officers have never been in more danger than they are at the present.
Though the average American doesn’t even know of its existence, the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C. now displays the names of 24,775 officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
All local law enforcement personnel will wear a black mourning ribbon across their badges at all times on Friday. Let us remember and pay respect to those who paid the price of protecting the communities of our nation with their lives this Friday. We also need to thank God for protecting those who wear the badge from death or serious injury in Eatonton and Putnam County for yet another year.
Sincerely, Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills