DUPLICATE: Albany law enforcement holds memorial ceremony

ALBANY — Albany and Dougherty County law enforcement personnel and family members of fallen officers gathered Thursday at the Albany Civic Center for the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony. The event coincides each year with the National Peace Officer Memorial Day, signed into being by President John Kennedy in 1962 and observed this year on May 15.

Among the honored were 11 local officers who died while fulfilling their law enforcement duties — from Patrolman Marion C. Collins of the Albany Police Department who lost his life Feb. 9, 1920. to Cpl. Terry Lewis Fleming of the APD who was killed in action Oct. 28, 2011.

During the ceremony, family of the deceased officers were escorted to a table for a symbolic carnation presentation. The carnation would be added to a commemorative wreath. When no family member was present, the carnation was pinned by an officer of that agency.

Fifteen city and county law enforcement agencies participated in the memorial ceremony, including the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office, Dougherty Police, Dougherty School Police, Georgia State Patrol, U.S Marine Corps and the Albany Fire Department.

A special proclamation was read by Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, declaring the week of May 11 as Law Enforcement Memorial Week in Dougherty County.

Following the pinning of the carnations Jackie Rouse, mother of fallen Dougherty Police officer, Clifford Rouse, spoke of her first year of grief after her son’s death. Clifford Rouse was fatally shot during a robbery in 2010.

“Starting when I was at the hospital, a dense fog fell around me,” Jackie Rouse said. “I couldn’t remember who I was around or who I talked to, and I really didn’t care. I just wanted it to be the same as before.”

Rouse said that one of her early responses her son’s death was anger toward her son’s bosses for “letting her son die.”

But that immediate reaction changed right away, Rouse said. All law enforcement departments “opened their arms” and gave her the love and support she needed.

“They’ve been like a second family to me,” Rouse said.

According to Rouse, it was that support, coupled with her faith in God and her determination to make it through her first year of grief that got her through it all.

“You know, God didn’t promise me a rose garden,” Jackie Rouse said. “But he promised me a garden with roses. He didn’t promise there would be no thorns, but he promised he’d be there to heal my heart.”

Rouse said that now she’s survived the worst of everything and wants to be a “shining light” for those who have experienced a similar loss.

“I can’t hide in my turtle shell,” Rouse said, “I want to be a beacon, to tell others where I’ve been, where I want to go and help them to do the same.”