Mt. Pleasant High School Law Enforcement teacher Elizabeth Bailey challenged her Law Enforcement II students to write condolence letters to Police Departments around the country for their fallen officers. Students found the names of Departments who had lost officers on the Officer Down Memorial Page. Bailey said the class has received letters of thanks from several of the Police Departments including Dallas, San Antonio and Las Vegas, Nevada.
MPHS Senior Cristian Contreras selected the Police Department of Stockton, California because he had relatives in the area. He wrote the Department about Officer Scott Hewell, a member of the Mobile Field Force Team who died in June 2014.
Stockton Chief of Police Eric Jones wrote back and in his letter of thanks said:
“Officer Scott Hewell gave the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our community and being a law enforcement officer…After his death, Scott has been sorely missed by the entire Police Department as he was part of our family. He will never be forgotten, nor will any of our other fallen officers who valiantly gave of themselves to keep our communities safe.”
Jones also enclosed a Stockton Police Department Challenge Coin. This Coin is given to officers at their retirement to show that they are life-long members of their police family and to show their allegiance to the law enforcement profession.
“I was surprised that he included the Challenge Coin with the letter,” Bailey said. “This coin is usually reserved for their own officers. It really shows that he appreciated receiving the letter from Cristian.”
Photo: Elizabeth Bailey with the Challenge Coin and Cristian Contreras with the letters they received from Stockton.