Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin marked Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week by honoring fallen police officers across Connecticut in speeches he presented at two separate ceremonies that highlighted the sacrifices men and women in uniform have made in service to their communities.
“Our presence here today is no mere formality,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin told the roughly 150 attendees gathered on May 22 at the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden for the Connecticut Police Chiefs’ Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation’s 37th Police Memorial Service. “This ceremony is in a real sense a gathering of Connecticut’s law enforcement family to express our genuine and our unqualified appreciation for the sacrifices that these officers and their families have made.”
The Connecticut Police Chiefs’ Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation’s memorial service also included remarks by Ronnell Higgins, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) and Connecticut State Police Colonel Daniel Loughman, and a keynote address from Governor Ned Lamont.
“I speak to you today not only as the Chief State’s Attorney, but also as the son, the brother, the Godfather and the father of two serving officers,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “This ceremony must serve to reinforce to all citizens how grateful we must be, not only on this day, but on every day to the officers who willingly risk their lives on society's behalf. It should not take the death of a police officer in the line of duty for the public to appreciate the dangers of policing, but sadly that is not the case.”
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin noted the words “Never Forget” engraved at the base of the Connecticut Law Enforcement Memorial in Meriden.
“Those words are both a challenge and a reminder to all of us for to forget their sacrifice is, in fact, to break faith with their service and to dishonor their memory,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said.
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin reminded those in attendance of the officers who died most recently in the line of duty – Bristol police Sgt. Alex Hamzy, Bristol police Lt. Dustin DeMonte, Hartford Detective Robert C. Garten and Connecticut State Police Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier – and their fellow officers, Bristol police Officer Alex Iurato and Hartford Police Officer Brian Kearney, who were wounded on those fateful days.
“We recall today in awe the bravery of Officer Alex Iurato, though grievously wounded, stood his ground and killed an individual in possession of a high-powered rifle,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “His actions unquestionably saved the lives of brother and sister officers who were then racing to the scene as backup. There are officers present in this very room who owe their very lives to his actions.”
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin also noted the service of Detective Sergeant John Bonin of the Meriden Police Department, who died in the line of duty in 1922, and Lt. Otto Ernest Dobratz, also of the Meriden Police Department, who died in the line of duty in 1953. As part of the memorial service, the names of both Meriden police officers and Connecticut State Police Trooper First Class Pelletier were added to the Roll of Honor engraved in the Connecticut Law Enforcement Memorial.
“Their loss, and the loss of all those who have died in the line of duty, must always serve as a source of pride, however painful - pain for the gut-wrenching loss of those officers who were in the prime of their lives - but also pride for the courage and their willingness to suffer and die in the service of the state and their community.”
The May 22 memorial service also included a presentation of a memorial wreath, the unveiling and presentation of veil, a rifle salute, the playing of taps and the reading of the names of the 155 police officers included in the Roll of Honor.
On May 13, 2025, Chief State’s Attorney Griffin and Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District State’s Attorney Paul J. Ferencek joined Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling, Norwalk Police Chief James Walsh, Norwalk Police Deputy Chiefs Terrence Blake and Melissa Lepore, area police chiefs, Norwalk city officials and other dignitaries at the Norwalk Department of Police Service Memorial Service.
Other Division of Criminal Justice members at the solemn event included Executive Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa M. D’Angelo, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Suzanne M. Vieux and Chief Inspector Michael Sullivan.
“Every year, communities across the nation and across the state gather to faithfully honor and remember those officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and the service of their departments to their communities and the state,” Chief State's Attorney Griffin said to the dozens gathered outside the Norwalk Police Department for the morning memorial ceremony.
“President Kennedy once said that there is no greater service than public service, and no greater honor than to serve the public. And so today serves to reinforce to us, to all citizens, how grateful we should be, not only during this week but on every day of the year, to our dedicated police officers who willingly risk their lives on our behalf,” he said.
The May 13 event included a candle lighting ceremony for Norwalk officers killed in the line of duty - Officer Marco Carias, Sgt. Nicholas Fera, Officer Sherrald Gorton and Sgt. Frank S. Stratton - and a salute to fallen officers by visiting police chiefs, as well as the playing of taps by bugler Gary Kelman and "Amazing Grace" by the Fairfield County Police Pipes and Drums. The Norwalk Police Department Honor Guard performed a rifle volley salute and a retiring of the colors.
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said he was honored to participate in the city’s event.
“The most fitting tribute to our fallen officers is the commitment to excellence exhibited by Connecticut law enforcement across the state,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “It is a legacy of excellence and devotion to duty that has been handed down to every generation of officers who have been privileged to wear the uniform.”
Chief State's Attorney Griffin reflected on the demands placed on police officers, likening them to soldiers facing life-and-death decisions in the war against violence, social workers addressing the poor and alienated, and constitutional scholars who must know and understand the dictates of the Supreme Court in real time and under incredible stress. He emphasized the importance of remembering the toll police work takes on officers' mental and physical well-being. He used a quote from Attorney Henry S. Ruth, a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, in describing those demands:
“If a police officer is tired and afraid, he is held accountable as a man who is not tired and afraid. If he is frustrated or angry, he must not react. If an officer is cursed at, he is told that he must smile, the officer makes an arrest in minutes and spends hours typing the after-hour or after-action report.”
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said society should never forget or worse - refuse to acknowledge - the tremendous toll that police work can have on an officer’s mind, body and spirit.
“The police officer stands guard at the intersection of light and darkness and must bear witness to every crime in the book of human depravity,” he said. “No officer who has viewed the battered remains of a murdered child or pried a teenager from a crashed car or stood vigil over the body of a fallen colleague, can ever forget. These images remain imprinted on the mind and the heart of those officers forever. The ceremonies and commemorations held during police memorial week ensure that our society does not forget that the great strength of our modern policing is that our officers are drawn from the communities that they serve and protect, that they are, in fact, our sons and our daughters.”
In closing, Chief State’s Attorney Griffin noted words attributed to Roman historian Tacitus inscribed at the base of the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial in Washington D.C.: “ ‘In valor there is hope,’ ” he said. “As long as we have men and women like those who serve…I believe firmly there is hope.”
