SAVANNAH, GA (July 18, 2013): Eleven recruits of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department will be joined by current and former officers and members of the public as they remember a fallen officer Monday.
The recruits will lead the quarterly Run To Remember from Forsyth Park to Police Memorial Park at Oglethorpe Avenue and Habersham Street. They will be honoring U.S. Customs Agent George W. Singleton of Savannah, who was killed in a raid in Lavonia Dec. 22, 1975.
Runners, including the recruits, other officers from SCMPD and neighboring agencies and members of the public, will begin convening in Forsyth Park at 9 a.m. Monday. The run begins at 10 a.m. and concludes in park in the middle of Oglethorpe across from police headquarters. There, the recruits will present a wreath to honor the fallen officer in a small ceremony.
Each class of graduates from the extensive 19-week training program that qualifies Metro officers to wear the uniform conduct the 1.5-mile run to honor one of the 51 law enforcement officers from Chatham County who have lost their lives in the performance of their duties.
Despite the sentimental nature of the run, it also serves a practical purpose, according to SCMPD Training Director Gary Taylor: “We always need to remember the potential consequences of the job we do protecting the public,” he said.
The recruits have completed the extensive training that includes 11 weeks at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Garden City.
Graduates will be pinned as officers and join the SCMPD ranks in a pinning ceremony Friday, July 26, at 3 p.m. in Police Headquarters.
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