Cobourg Police Service Unveils Wall of Honour

Pete Fisher
5 years ago
• Categories: Editor Choice, Local, Police Blotter

By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Two stations of honour were dedicated at the Cobourg Police Services headquarters on Friday, June 28, 2019.

In a public place for all to see, a memorial Wall of Honour will be viewed by anyone walking in off King Street. Upstairs, officers will be regularly reminded of the supreme sacrifice paid by two colleagues with the Constable William Rourke boardroom and the Constable Chris Garrett training room.

Honoured guests were family members of Garrett (who was murdered in 2004) and great-great-granddaughters of Rourke (who died in 1915) – Lisa Simmons and Lori Pelitera came all the way from Rochester, NY, to see their great-great-grandfather honoured.

“They represent the best in community policing, and it’s through their dedication to duty that our communities are not only safer, but simply better,” Matthew Stergios said in delivering Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd.

“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to both men,” Northumberland-Peterborougn South MPP David Piccini added.

“Public service is a calling, but few put their lives on the line on a day-to-day basis.

“While their names are etched on the wall behind us, their remarkable service and integrity will forever be etched on the psyche of our community.”

“We are here to honour and humbly pay our respect to Cobourg’s two fallen officers who died in the line of duty to protect our citizens with the commemoration of this beautiful Wall of Honour,” Mayor John Henderson.

Cobourg’s two officers compares to more than 40 at the Toronto memorial, Henderson said, “but I have to say it’s by far too many.”

Henderson offered the audience a picture of a 62-year-old Rourke as he pinned on his badge in his Perry Street home one day in 1915, left for work and never came home.

Similarly 39-year-old Garrett (with 18 years of policing behind him, 13 of them in Cobourg) was truly what Henderson considered “a cop’s cop and a savvy leader” who left his Grafton home to report for shift one spring day that would be his last.

Along with the Christmas dinners and kids’ baseball games, the mayor said, the sacrifices an officer makes each day include the very real risk of putting one’s life on the line.

“We humbly acknowledge their service and sacrifice with immense gratitude.”

Retired Deputy Chief David Cromlish shared his research into Rourke’s story, undertaken after he stumbled upon a very brief article about the incident from 2010. His death came about in Victoria Hall, where there were cells at the time. Rourke struggled as he dealt with an intoxicated man and suffered a heart attack. Though the chief called for a doctor, he arrived too late.

Rourke has since been honoured at the National Police Memorial in Ottawa and the provincial one in Toronto, Cromlish said and the American flag was displayed that day in his great-great-granddaugheres’ honour.

Surely every Northumberland County resident recalls where they were when they heard that Garrett had died in the line of duty. As the story came out, they learned that he exhibited further heroism in managing to wound a suspect (who, it came out at his trial, may have had plans for other attacks) before he succumbed.

Police Board Chair Dean Pepper thought back, at the time, to his impressions when he first met Garrett – his great passion for policing and an unwavering desire to protect and serve.

“And he did just that,” Pepper stated.

Chief Kai Liu recalled being an officer on the Ottawa police service on that 2004 morning, gathering with colleagues to discuss the incident, joining the contingent from their force who travelled to Cobourg to be part of the massive funeral procession in Garrett’s honour.

The chief took a moment to honour the artist behind the likenesses on the two plaques. Karl Barnhart was with the Peel Regional police force from 1961 to 1989, where he was one of the earliest composite artists – gifted individuals who work from verbal descriptions to create line drawings that result in convictions.

Over the years, Barnhart has contributed more of his artwork honouring the two officers, and the upstairs rooms named in their honour provides a wonderful home for them.

Barnhart’s son Mark is also a retired superintendent from Peel Region. In fact, Barnhart said, 12 member of his family represent a total of 360 years of policing.

The entrance display was done in two phases, the press release said.

Phase one, completed more than a year ago, was the renovation of the front entrance to include a bigger lobby, public washrooms with showers, couches, and a warming-and-cooling station. This week’s dedication marks the end of the second phase.

Liu said the location of the Wall of Honour means the many students who tour the police station will begin and end in front of the men now honoured – an appropriate way to educate them about the sacrifices that have been made for their community.

Deputy Chief Paul VandeGraaf said the location is perfect for another reason – the fact that this area functions in extreme weather as a vital warming or cooling station for vulnerable individuals. Rourke and Garrett will look down on them protectively as they find respite.