‘Never asked to be a part of this somber club’: Illinois honors fallen police officers

SPRINGFIELD – Nine Illinois police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2024 were honored at a ceremony in Springfield Thursday.

The Illinois Peace Officers Memorial takes place every year on the first Thursday of May to honor officers who died on the job in the prior year. Families of the officers are given a plaque honoring their family member’s service by the state’s constitutional elected officials and the officers’ names are inscribed on a memorial outside the Illinois Capitol.

“They woke up every single day knowing that they may be called on to face extreme uncertainty, that on a moment’s notice, they may be required to put themselves in harm’s way to save another,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

This year’s event honored DeKalb County Deputy Sheriff Christina Musil, Department of Corrections Sgt. Andrew Faught, Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca, Cook County Corrections Deputy Sheriff Rafael Wordlaw, Chicago Police Officer James Crowley, Illinois State Police Trooper Corey Thompsen, Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez, Oak Park Detective Allan Reddins and ISP Trooper Clay Carns.

This year’s event also honored K-9s for the first time, including K-9 officers that died in the line of duty from Rockford, Lake County and Alton last year.

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“The families that we induct today never asked to be a part of this somber club,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said.

Treasurer Mike Frerichs also gave an emotional speech honoring his cousin, a California police officer who recently died. Frerichs’ office provides a college scholarship fund for children of first responders who died on the job.

Former ISP Trooper Kim Cessna, who leads a nonprofit for family members of fallen police officers, gave a personal remembrance of her colleague Thompsen, who was killed in a crash last October.

“We take these memories with us, allowing them to guide us, reminding us the beauty they brought into our lives,” Cessna said. “We carry their love in our hearts, and we let that love become a source of strength.”

Kathleen Rittmanic-Emme, the sister of Bradley Police Officer Marlene Rittmanic who died in 2021, described the emotional toll that court cases take on families following an officer’s death.

“Four years of hell to get what you call justice is absolutely heart-wrenching and ridiculous,” Rittmanic-Emme said.

Rittmanic’s killer was sentenced in January to life in prison.

Martinez’s death was on Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s mind. Martinez was shot and killed during a traffic stop last November on Chicago’s South Side by a man with an illegally modified gun, according to prosecutors.

But it was the suspect’s criminal history that Mendoza said bothered her the most. Block Club Chicago reported the man was on electronic monitoring when he killed Martinez and had multiple prior convictions, including battery, fleeing the police and aggravated discharge of a firearm. He was also awaiting trial on drug charges at the time of the murder.

“Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez would be with us right now and not on this button or the memorial wall outside if the monster that murdered him was locked up instead of out committing crimes while out on electronic monitoring,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat and sister of a Chicago Police officer, blasted portions of the SAFE-T Act – a 2021 police reform law championed by Democrats after Geroge Floyd’s murder in 2020. She said as an elected official, she needs to do more to speak out against policies she believes jeopardize officer safety.

Mendoza called on lawmakers to remove a provision in state law that requires people on home confinement with or without electronic monitoring to be given two days of movement.

“When we give more rights to the criminals than we do to our police officers, we end up with dead officers and increased crime in our communities,” Mendoza said, earning applause from the officers and families in attendance.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.