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The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. (ODMP) is a
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that maintains a
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
listing American
law enforcement officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or police officer or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, ...
s,
prison officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...
s and
police dog A police dog, also known as a K-9 (phonemic abbreviation of canine), is a dog that is trained to assist police and other law enforcement officers. Their duties may include searching for drugs and explosives, locating missing people, findin ...
s who have died in the line of duty.


History

The ODMP was established in 1996 by Chris Cosgriff, then a freshman at
James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...
.About ODMP
" Officer Down Memorial Page.
Originally, it focused only on officers who were recently killed at the time, but it gradually expanded to include officers killed in the line of duty dating as far back as 1791. The ODMP claims to be accessed by over 250,000
unique visitor A unique user is a term in web analytics that refers to data of a Pageview of a unique IP, whose presence is only counted once, regardless of the number of pages they visit. This definition does not count repeat or returning users for a standard pe ...
s per month. Its
research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
staff are volunteers managed by a lieutenant from the
New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...
. The organization has uncovered hundreds of "forgotten" line-of-duty deaths and has assisted in ensuring those officers are properly recognized on appropriate police memorials. In 2000, the ODMP was granted
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
tax-exempt status. The operation of the site is paid for through private contributions, as well as from the proceeds from a gift shop selling
T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...
s, bumper stickers, and other items. The site is no longer advertising-free as it had been in the past. In 2007, the ODMP partnered with SharedBook Inc. to create ''The Officer Down Memorial Book'', for sale from the gift shop. In 2010, the ODMP became funded in part through two $150,000 grants awarded by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, within the United States Department of Justice. BJA provides leadership and assistance to local criminal justice programs that improve and reinforce the nat ...
,
Office of Justice Programs The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, including law enforc ...
of the
U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...
. One of those grants was to provide resources on benefits available to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers but this feature is no longer offered to its visitors. By 2017, the ODMP only maintains its main website for American line of duty deaths and no longer offers separate sites for Canada, Australia, Central Europe or New Zealand law enforcement deaths.


Criteria

The ODMP maintains a detailed list of criteria.Criteria for Inclusion
" Officer Down Memorial Page.
The site lists law enforcement and prison officers from all levels of government who have died in the line of duty due to criminal violence,
accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not deliberately caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that the event may have been caused by Risk assessment, unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Many researchers, insurers ...
,
injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...
,
illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...
or natural causes as well as those who are killed off duty if they are targeted for their law enforcement affiliations or if they are acting at the time in an official capacity to protect the safety or property of others. Military investigators or
special agent In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...
s are included if working for official investigation services, as are other military personnel, including
military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...
and peacekeepers if they are engaged in law enforcement at the time of their deaths. The ODMP does not list deaths that result from such factors as officer
misconduct Misconduct is wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. It is an act which is forbidden or a failure to do that which is required. Misc ...
, the influence of voluntarily-imbibed
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
or controlled substances,
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
, or officer
negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...
. It also excludes deaths caused by off-duty
car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...
s or private service to a
security company A private security company is a business entity which provides armed or unarmed security services and expertise to clients in the private or public sectors. Overview Private security companies are defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic ...
or private military company.


Layout

Each officer listed has a profile, typically displaying a picture or photograph, if available, the agency or department the officer worked for, their
rank A rank is a position in a hierarchy. It can be formally recognized—for example, cardinal, chief executive officer, general, professor—or unofficial. People Formal ranks * Academic rank * Corporate title * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy ...
, years served with the agency or department, age, badge number and date of death, as well as a brief description of the events that led up to and caused the officer's death. Most profiles include the official shoulder patch of the agency that the officer worked for and the website continues to seek pictures of patches that are not in its database. If the death was the result of an encounter with a criminal suspect, the ODMP does not usually give the suspect's name. However, it will state, if known, whether the suspect was apprehended, what sentence they have received if
convicted In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a trial by jud ...
, as well as if the suspect was
acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...
or
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
d. The profile ends with a list of all the agencies the officer ever served with, as well as any military experience and the immediate surviving relatives, though it does not give their names. Each officer's profile has a "Reflections" section where visitors can post comments. These comments are moderated and negative, derogatory or abusive postings are removed. There is a
search Searching may refer to: Music * "Searchin', Searchin", a 1957 song originally performed by The Coasters * Searching (China Black song), "Searching" (China Black song), a 1991 song by China Black * Searchin' (CeCe Peniston song), "Searchin" (C ...
function that allows searching by last name, agency,
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
, range of years or
cause of death In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of the conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. In rare cases, an ...
.Search for a Fallen Officer
" Officer Down Memorial Page.


See also

* North American Game Warden Museum


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Officer Down Memorial Page Non-profit organizations based in the United States 1996 establishments in Virginia Acknowledgements of death Law enforcement websites American websites