Colorado Springs – Sunday afternoon outside the Swan Law funeral home, a little brown-haired girl in a plaid dress and patent leather shoes walked up to a police officer and gave him a hug.
Later, the little girl talked to another group of policemen outside the visitation for slain Colorado Springs Officer Ken Jordan. As they stooped low to hear her, the girl told the officers that she loved them, that God loved them and that they were welcome to watch television at her house any time.
For a department struggling to deal with its second line-of- duty death this year, even the littlest gesture from a small child helped.
“I’ve got a little one at home too, so that definitely meant a lot to me,” said Cmdr. Pete Carey. “I don’t know if kids understand what’s going on, but that was something very special to us.”
Dozens of people filed in Sunday to pay their respects to Jordan, 32, who was shot to death last week during a late-night traffic stop. Many more are expected today for a memorial service at New Life Church, to be followed by a lengthy procession down Interstate 25.
Jordan’s death came just 10 months after a man shot and killed undercover police Officer Jared Jensen as Jensen tried to arrest him.
Those who came to Jordan’s visitation Sunday were old and young, public servants and civilians. Some knew Jordan intimately, from hours spent on the job or on trips as friends. And some, like the little girl, hardly knew him, if at all.
Those differences didn’t really seem to matter because everyone came with the same purpose.
“I just thought someone should come out to pay respect to what he did,” said Bob Swanson, a Colorado Springs resident and a military veteran who never met Jordan. “I just thought someone should come out and say goodbye and thanks for all he did for our community.”
One woman, Laura Evans, said she didn’t know Jordan but came to the visitation because she lost her own son several years ago to violence. She understands what Jordan’s family is going through, she said.
Another woman, Helen Chapman, said she came because she didn’t know whether she could attend the funeral. She went to Jensen’s funeral, she said.
“I just adore these guys,” said Chapman, who didn’t know Jordan. “They do so much for us.”
Keith Wrede, a close friend of Jordan’s and a fellow officer, said the support of strangers has been encouraging, reminding the Colorado Springs officers of something that has been easy to forget in recent months: “Not everybody hates us,” he said.
Jordan, Wrede said, was the kind of man who would do anything he could to help someone. He rarely became angry, even during the toughest moments of his job. Instead, he kept a light heart and a positive outlook.
“We loved coming to work every day,” Wrede said. “We didn’t call it work. Where else can you go every day and hang out with your best friends?”
Wrede said Jordan was an avid outdoorsman: hunting, camping, shooting, motorcycle riding, skiing.
“Whenever his days off came, he was gone,” Wrede said. “You couldn’t find him.”
Wrede took a breath.
“You just never forget his smile. He’d go out of his way for anybody, even a stranger on the street.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
