Delmarva remembers two fallen police officers this week on the dates of their deaths.
Delmar police officer, Corporal Keith Heacook, was brutally attacked on April 25, 2021. He later died on April 28, 2021.
Tuesday, April 26 marks five years since Delaware State Trooper, Corporal Stephen Ballard, was shot and killed at a Wawa while responding to a suspicious vehicle call in New Castle County. Corporal Ballard had ties to Sussex County, too. He began his 8-year tenure with Delaware State Police at Troop 4 in Georgetown. A vigil was held at the Georgetown Circle in his honor shortly after his death in 2017.
Many memorials have been dedicated to Ballard across the state in the last five years, including a street named after him in Northern Delaware. The community rallied together to raise money for his family shortly after his death.
Delaware Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) offered support to Corporal Ballard's wife and child, as they also did for Corporal Heacook's family and all families of fallen officers in Delaware.
"Both of them, of course, died horrendous deaths," said Delaware C.O.P.S. President, Eleanor Allione. "Both of them left a young child behind."
They support survivors in multiple ways, including through a camp for kids who have lost a parent in the line of duty.
"We don't want to ever have another death," Allione said. "We hope we won't have another death. But we are there to take care of the family if we do have another one."
Delaware C.O.P.S. works to make sure no fallen hero in the state is forgotten. Allione says it's important to honor and remember all of those people not only on the dates of their deaths, and no matter how long it's been.
"We have to remember those who have given their all," Allione said. "They have died in service, where they have been trying to help someone when they gave their life. They laid down their life for another, and that's just really important. They were doing what they love. But it's just something we have to remember. We have to remember them. They can never be forgotten."
Corporal Ballard is amongst the fallen officers being honored at the annual Delaware State Police Memorial on May 4 in Dover.
Corporal Heacook will be honored on May 13 in Washington D.C. at the 34th Annual Candlelight Vigil, as his name is added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
Allione says the Police Unity Tour will soon bike through Delaware for National Police Week (May 11-17) to raise money to keep the memorial wall in D.C.