Members of the Denver Police homicide unit pay their respects at the fallen officers memorial in front police headquarters in downtown Denver on Wednesday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)
Ulster Street is where the eastbound Denver trolley car made the loop to go west on East Colfax Avenue. It is the street where my grandparents moved into their 600 square-foot house in 1922. And in 1986, just a few houses away from my grandparents’ Ulster home, my Denver police partner and friend, Pat Pollack, was shot and killed as he pursued a robbery suspect.
Pat’s name and many more of my friends’ names are now enshrined on the Denver fallen officers memorial located on the plaza in front of the Denver Police Department headquarters. They all died in the line of duty. Recently, their memorial was desecrated by First Amendment-protected protesters, some of whom were also protected by a city policy that protects criminals.
This criminal act violated the memory of these officers’ deaths. It was another death for these heroes. It is why the officers who witnessed the criminal act are angry. It is why Denver police officers are angry and hurt.
David O’Shea-Dawkins,Denver
The writer is a retired Denver police officer.
This letter was published in the Feb. 20 edition.
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