Cook County Sheriff’s Office Welcomes End of Watch Memorial Ride to Remember to Adel
Major Terry Arnold
Cook County Sheriff Doug Hanks and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office are preparing to welcome the arrival of Beyond the Call of Duty’s End of Watch Memorial Ride to Remember to Adel, Georgia, Friday, June 28, 2024.
Beyond the Call of Duty is an organization that, through its “End of Watch Ride to Remember” event, recognizes police officers – throughout the nation – who died while in the line of duty.
The End of Watch Ride to Remember is a dedicated group of motorcycle riders from the state of Washington escorting a 40′ trailer across the country to honor fall officers from the prior year.
In 2024 – EOW will be honoring 259 fallen officers killed in the line of duty in 2022 and 2023 at 234 different departments, beginning June 1st, 2024, and the memorial will travel 22,550 miles in 73 days on its journey.
One of the fallen officers memorialized on the journey this year is Cook County Sheriff’s Office Major Terry Arnold who died in the line of duty on October 3rd, 2022.
The memorial is scheduled to arrive Friday morning under escort at 8:00 am at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and will remain on display until approximately 10:00 am where it is then scheduled to travel to Crisp County.
Beyond the Call of Duty founder, Jagrut Shah, a former deputy sheriff, says they want to show departments and their families who have lost partners and friends they are not alone. “I wanted to bridge this gap that we have and give back to the departments and let the surviving officers and their families know that their loss has not been forgotten.”
The organization’s event’s name is based on an officers “End of Watch.” An End of Watch Call or Last Radio Call is a ceremony in which a police dispatcher issues a final call to a fallen officer over the radio, followed by silence. All officers in that department hear the call, and observe the silence, remembering their fallen brother or sister.
In 2022, the End of Watch Ride honored 611 fallen soldiers across the country. This year, they are honoring the 259 officers who lost their lives while serving their community. End of Watch Ride to Remember is on a mission to pay their respects to each of them and assist the famlies of the fallen however they can.
“A peaceful community is a prosperous community, and we a owe a debt of gratitude to those officers who make it possible for us to live in a peaceful and free society,” said Mr. Shah.
To find out more and see all of the cities the End of Watch Ride will be visiting this year, please visit their website: www.endofwatchride.com.