Columbus police honor their fallen colleagues
On the day a cadet graduates from the Columbus Police Academy and becomes a police officer, he or she receives a badge.
Sgt. Joe Podolski, a member of the Columbus Police SWAT team, reminisced about the day he received that badge 27 years ago as he spoke Thursday night to more than 300 people who attended the Columbus Police Division Memorial Service at Genoa Park Downtown.
“I learned I have to earn that badge every day,” Podolski said.
Atop the memorial for fallen city officers is a representation of that badge. And on the stone below it are engraved the names of 56 officers who died in the line of duty while wearing that badge. Blue lights and flags were added this year for each of the fallen.
Podolski knew the 56th and most recent person added to the memorial — fellow SWAT Officer Steven M. Smith, who died on April 12, 2016, days after he was shot during a standoff in Clintonville.
Podolski said he will never forget the community’s support, especially when Smith’s body was escorted through Columbus — “To see the sadness washing over the faces as they paid tribute to our fallen comrade.”
There will be another procession like it Saturday at Grove City Church of the Nazarene when services are held for Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario, who was killed by a gunman at a nursing home in the village last Friday. Pastor Eric Cuenin, a Columbus police chaplain, prayed Thursday night that DiSario’s family might feel supported in their difficult time.
The ceremony closed with a bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace” on the beside the Scioto River as the sun was setting.