It was when the strains of Amazing Grace rang out during an annual memorial for fallen police officers that Brad Aschenbrenner felt wife Sarah Beckett’s loss like it was yesterday.
“It’s still really hard for me,” said Aschenbrenner, with his two young sons, on Sunday. “It just brings up a lot of memories from last year. Just hearing it.”
The 32-year-old West Shore RCMP officer died last year when a pickup truck collided with her police vehicle at Peatt Road and Goldstream Avenue in Langford.
She was one of 120 police officers and peacekeepers from B.C. remembered at the B.C. Law Enforcement Memorial Service on the lawn of the legislature.
The 120 names of the dead were read out by junior officers.
Victoria Police Department Const. Johnston Cochrane, who died June 2, 1859, was the first name called out.
Beckett, who died on April 5, 2016, was the last name read. Her family sat in the front row for the service.
No B.C. officers have died in 2017. Nationally, 863 had died in the line of duty as of last year.
Hundreds of police officers, sheriffs, corrections officers and first responders from across the country attended the memorial.
The B.C. memorial coincides with the National Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial held in Ottawa and is held annually on the last Sunday in September. The B.C. event rotates each year between the legislature and a location in the Lower Mainland.
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said police are the voice for many of society’s most vulnerable and the profession is a calling, a noble and honourable vocation to keep others safe at the risk of one’s own life.
“Let’s not forget they are much more than names,” said Manak. “They are heroes.”
B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth addressed the families and colleagues of the fallen, saying: “We know there’s no memorial or speech that could ever fill the void of those lost, but we hope this gathering today will fill your hearts with the province’s gratitude.”
The service began with a procession that left Wharf Street near Ship Point at 12:40 p.m. and headed down Government Street to the legislature for the 1 p.m. service.
The service ended with the laying of four wreaths by representatives of the families of the fallen, B.C. municipal police departments, provincial law-enforcement agencies and federal law-enforcement agencies.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
