Police officers and family members gathered in Unadilla on Friday, May 22, for the annual New York State Police Troop C Memorial Day Service.
The service is held each year at the troop headquarters to honor troopers who have died in the line of duty and to remember former officers who have died during the past year.
Troop C Commander Maj. Lucas M. Shuta led the service, which included presentation of colors by a color guard escorted by motorcycles, bagpipes and drums from the Edward P. Maloney Memorial Pipe Band from Binghamton, and troopers mounted on horseback. Uniformed troopers and police from other area police departments, as well as members of the Pennsylvania State Police, stood in formation throughout the ceremony.
A small crowd of retired police officers and others watched the ceremony.
Jeff and Karen Farrar, parents of fallen Trooper Jill Mattice, laid a wreath at a memorial in front of the headquarters.
Mattice, 31 at the time of her death, was killed Jan. 20, 2010, when her patrol car was struck by an oncoming tractor trailer on state Route 23 in the town of Morris.
At the time of her death, Mattice served as school resource officer at the Unadilla Valley and Franklin central school districts. She became a trooper in 2003, according to Daily Star archives.
Mattice was the first female trooper killed in the line of duty since the agency’s inception in 1917.
Talking to reporters after the ceremony, Shuta said, “This is the most important thing we do as a troop and as an agency. Remembering our fallen couldn’t be more important, not only to show the perils of the job, but also to show the families that we will never forget their family members who passed in the line of duty.”
Speaking of the crowd in attendance, Shuta said, “It’s a fantastic outpouring of support. We have retired members, we have family members of members of retired members, we have members of the community. It’s great to see. We always have a great turnout.”
Shuta said it’s important to remember troopers who died in the line of duty, no matter how long ago they served.
“We can never forget,” he said. “They gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, I mean, even though the job is different from 50, to 75, to 100 years ago, they were still performing the duties in an honorable way. … There’s nothing more noble than giving yourself in the line of duty.”
Nineteen officers of Troop C have died in the line of duty since the troop was formed in 1921 and headquartered in Sidney, according to a program leaflet supplied by the troop.
The headquarters was moved to its current location in Unadilla in 1954. Three hundred officers and civilian employees now serve across the seven counties comprised by Troop C.