For the second year, the Odessa Police Department’s Honor Guard will travel to Washington D.C. for National Police Week.
OPD spokesperson Cpl. Steve LeSueur said the department’s honor guard will travel to the nation’s capital Sunday.
National Police Week begins Sunday and continues until Saturday.
LeSueur wants to encourage citizens throughout the Permian Basin to replace their porch lights with blue bulbs throughout the week.
“It’s nice to know that we are appreciated,” LeSueur said about driving through neighborhoods that have blue porch lights.
OPD’s Honor Guard was previously at the Texas Peace Officer’s Memorial Ceremony on Monday in Austin. LeSueur said that ceremony in Austin honor all of the peace officers who were killed in the line of duty over past year.
In addition to the Honor Guard traveling to Austin and Washington D.C., OPD will host a police memorial service at 10 a.m. Friday at Sunset Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home. The memorial service will honor nine peace officers that have been killed in the line of duty.
The five from OPD are Cpls. Abel Marquez, Arlie Jones, Scott Gardner, Gordon Terry Toal and officer Scott Stanton Smith. Ector County Sheriff’s Office will honor Deputy Sheriff Thad Dewitt West, Midland County Sheriff’s Office has Sgt. Michael Joe Naylor, while Midland Police Department will remember officer Nathan Hayden Heidelberg. Lubbock Police Department will be there to honor patrolman Rodney Raylyn Kendricks, who is buried in Odessa.
“People can pay their respects by attending the police memorial service,” LeSueur said. “It’s nice to know that (those fallen officers) are being remembered.”
