AMERICUS — Earlier this week, members of the Americus Police Department and Georgia Southwestern State University Police placed flags to mark the graves of the seven local law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in Americus and Sumter County. The flags were placed in preparation for National Police Week which begins, Sunday May 14. The incidents which cost each of these officers their lives span 177 years, from 1839 to 2016.
Their names are listed below.
• Sheriff John Kimmey, Sumter County Sheriff Office, Dec. 11, 1839
• Ofc. William R. Morris, Americus Police Department, March 12, 1907
• Chief William C. Barrow, Americus Police Department, June 27, 1913
• Lt. Homer A. Lee, Americus Police Department, Feb. 20, 1923
Ofc. Mary Anne Barker, Americus Police Department, May 9, 1983
• Ofc. Nicholas R. Smarr, Americus Police Department, Dec. 7, 2016
Ofc. Jody C. Smith, Georgia Southwestern State University Police, Dec. 8, 2016