She became Renee Maher, police widow and advocate

Grieving wife now champion for police families
Attorney Renee Maher, the first executive director of the Coalition of Metropolitan Police and Sheriffs, is a widow whose police officer husband was killed in 2003. She has lobbied lawmakers in Olympia to pass legislation important to law enforcement.

By Sara Jean Green

Seattle Times staff reporter


Renee Maher stands in the hallway of her Federal Way home near plaques honoring her husband, Officer Patrick Maher, who was fatally shot while trying to arrest a theft suspect in 2003.
In spring 2003, Renee Van Keulen Maher, a young, aggressive deputy prosecutor in Honolulu, gave up her professional identity for a domestic one when she moved to Federal Way to become a stay-at-home mom.

But four months after moving to the mainland, a new identity was thrust on her.

She became Renee Maher, police widow.

Maher's husband, Federal Way police Officer Patrick Maher, was fatally shot on Aug. 2, 2003, while trying to arrest a theft suspect.

His killer, Jason Roberts, later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a 30-year prison sentence.

Maher hates the label "widow," hates having her life forever associated with her husband's death. But she's found a way to use it to her political advantage, becoming a lobbyist for law enforcement and an advocate for the families of fallen officers.
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Grieving wife now champion for police families

Officer is mourned, loss shocks Worcester police department

Officer is mourned
Loss shocks Worcester dept.
‘GREAT DAD, OFFICER, MARINE, & FRIEND'

By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
scroteau@telegram.com
Silent and solemn, a group of Worcester police officers stood yesterday on Reservoir Street in Holden to remember their brother officer, Mark D. Bisnette, a father and Marine who lost his life in a single-car crash Saturday.

Known as “Bizz” to his close friends, Officer Bisnette, 38, is remembered by many as a man with an infectious smile, who was proud to serve as a Marine in the Gulf War, and could carry on a conversation about anything.

“Everybody had their Bizz stories. The kid is just one of a kind. Just a great friend, always be there for you,” said Officer Thomas B. Duffy, who rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus in Worcester after hearing about his friend's crash.

“He was as loyal as they get. He would do anything for his family and friends,” Officer Duffy said.
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http://www.telegram.com/article/20100104/NEWS/1040385/1116

Community mourns after deputy wounded in ambush dies

Community mourns after deputy wounded in ambush dies

by KING Staff

Posted on December 28, 2009 at 4:23 PM

SEATTLE – The law enforcement community is mourning another loss after Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Kent Mundell, critically wounded in a shootout a week ago, died Monday night.

Mundell's family was at his side Monday evening at Harborview Medical Center when doctors turned off life support. Officials say Dep. Mundell passed quickly and died at 5:04 p.m.

Dozens of deputies and police officers from at least six law enforcement agencies filed into Harborview Monday afternoon in the hours before Mundell died.
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Community mourns after deputy wounded in ambush dies

4 police officers killed in coffee shop ambush

4 police shot dead in coffee shop
November 29, 2009 2:21 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police are looking for one man and possibly a second person in the attack
$10,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest, police spokesman says
Police were in coffee shop before the start of their shifts
Law enforcement official describes fatal shootings as an ambush

Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Four police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington.

The officers were sitting in the coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. He told reporters that authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork.

"This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer told reporters. He said a gunman came inside, opened fire and shot all four officers. Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed -- "just the law enforcement officers were targeted."

Authorities know the identity of the four fallen officers, and were in the process of notifying family members and their departments, he said. He would not say what agencies the officers were from, but said, "they're all from this area."
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4 police shot dead in coffee shop

Seattle authorities vow arrests in police officer's slaying

Seattle authorities vow arrests in police officer's slaying
November 2, 2009 9:58 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Police officer killed, student officer injured in shooting Saturday
Authorities: Officers were in parked car when shooting happened
Field training officer Timothy Brenton was married with two children, 11 and 8
Mayor: Slaying is first intentional homicide of Seattle police officer since 1994


(CNN) -- Law enforcement officials in Seattle, Washington, vowed Sunday to catch whoever is responsible for fatally shooting a police officer and injuring a student officer as they sat in a parked patrol car.

Field training officer Timothy Brenton, 39, was reviewing details of a traffic stop with student officer Brit Sweeney when a vehicle rolled up next to the squad car shortly after 10 p.m., authorities said

People inside the vehicle fired several shots into the squad car, killing Brenton and injuring Sweeney, according to police.

A shot grazed Sweeney, tearing through her uniform and protective vest, Police Chief John Diaz said at a news conference Sunday. She fired at the attackers' vehicle, but police didn't know whether any of her bullets struck it, Assistant Chief Jim Pugel said.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/01/washington.cop.killed/index.html

In weeks like this, police and their spouses wonder: Is it worth it?

Eric Mullins and Diana Dugan talk at the police memorial in front of the Tampa Police Department. Both are married to law enforcement officers.
SKIP O’ROURKE Times

In weeks like this, police and their spouses wonder: Is it worth it?
John Barry, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, August 22, 2009


TAMPA — In families whose daily lives orbit a gun and a badge, mothers and fathers looked long and hard at their children this week.

It was the other identity of slain Tampa police Cpl. Mike Roberts — as a husband and the father of a 3-year-old boy — that has magnified the grief and shock felt by other police families.

Police officers and their spouses can't help but ask: Is it worth it?

Many have posted their fears on the leoaffairs.com law enforcement Web site: "This is the reality we and our families face each and every day, 365, 24/7," said one posting, signed "Tampa PD Wife."

At the Tampa police headquarters Friday, near a mountain of flowers left by mourners, two spouses of Tampa officers — one a husband, the other a wife — talked about the fears they've fought and about the long looks they've given their kids.

One thing they emphasized: You don't ask your husband or wife to quit. You don't make them choose between family or job. You may think it in weeks like this one, but you don't ask it.
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In weeks like this, police and their spouses wonder

UPDATE

[SKIP O'ROURKE Times]
Cindy Roberts, with son Adam, 3, touches the freshly-etched name of her husband on the Tampa police memorial.

Police dispatch audio
'Lincoln 61 is down'
Tampa police released the last recorded radio transmission among Cpl. Mike Roberts, dispatchers and backup officers on the night Roberts was shot and killed. Listen

Slain officer had a gift for compassion and humor

Tampa Police Department
Tampa police Cpl. Mike Roberts.

Slain officer had a gift for compassion and humor
By Rebecca Catalanello, Kim Wilmath and Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writers
Posted: Aug 20, 2009 01:20 PM


TAMPA — In 11 years with the Tampa Police Department, Cpl. Mike Roberts demonstrated a gift for reassuring victims and their families while catching criminals and making policing fun for those who worked beside him.

When he died Wednesday night during a confrontation with a heavily armed man pushing a grocery cart, Roberts, 38, left behind a wife, a 3-year-old son, and a legacy of good policing, according to records and anecdotes from people who knew him.

"He was one of the best police officers," Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said when she first addressed news cameras following the 10 p.m. slaying. "He was the best, and that's what we lost tonight."

Besides police work, Roberts served with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army. Originally from Canada, Roberts also holds a degree in business administration from the Memorial University of New Foundland, according to records.

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Slain officer had a gift for compassion and humor

Police officer, suspect killed in southeast Alabama standoff

Police officer, suspect killed in southeast Alabama standoff
Posted by Associated Press April 25, 2009 1:44 PM
Categories: Crime
HEADLAND, AL -- Officers in southeast Alabama shot a suspect to death after he killed one police officer and badly wounded a sheriff's deputy, authorities said.

Police said they got a call Friday afternoon that 53-year-old Fred Davis was firing a shotgun into the air outside his trailer. Henry County Sheriff's Deputy Ted Yost was first on the scene, and Davis shot and wounded him with the shotgun, State Trooper Kevin Cook said.

Davis then shot and killed Headland Officer Dexter Hammond with a high-powered rifle before other arriving officers shot and killed him, Cook said.
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Police officer, suspect killed in southeast Alabama standoff

Police seek St. Louis-area cop killer

Police seek St. Louis-area cop killer
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old man suspected of shooting a St. Louis-area police officer to death was being sought Sunday, officials said.

Investigators allege the man, a convicted drug dealer, walked up to Sgt. Michael King of the University City, Mo., police department as he sat in a parked squad car Saturday night and shot him to death, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The suspect allegedly then jumped into a nearby car and led police on a high-speed chase. The suspect was described as driving a light-colored, four-door 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass with Missouri license plate 2AB 28J.
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Gov. M. Jodi Rell Orders Flags Lowered To Honor Dead Officer

Rell Orders Flags Lowered To Honor Dead Officer
The Associated Press
5:49 PM EDT, September 12, 2008
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has ordered flags in Connecticut to be lowered Saturday in memory of a New Haven police officer killed in a crash this week.

Rell is asking people and businesses to fly their U.S. and state flags at half-staff from sunrise through sunset in honor of Sgt. Dario "Scott" Aponte.

Aponte, a 17-year New Haven police officer, died of injuries in a crash late Tuesday with another cruiser on his way to a domestic violence call.

The other cruiser's driver, Officer Diane Gonzalez, remains in critical condition at Yale New Haven Hospital.


Officials said both cruisers' emergency lights and sirens were on at the time. State police are investigating the crash.
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