| Columbus Police Memorial | |
| Location: | Genoa Park, Columbus, Ohio, United States |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 14 |
| Mapframe-Marker: | monument |
| Coordinates: | 39.9591°N -83.0055°W |
The Columbus Police Memorial is a memorial in Columbus, Ohio's Genoa Park, United States. It has inscriptions of the names of police officers killed while serving,[1] and serves as a gathering site for memorial services.[2] Its dedication ceremony was held on 26 May 2000.[3]
The original drawings for the design was made by Thomas Raymond Hayes, a civilian police artist who became paralyzed during his service as a police officer in 1979 when he sustained a gunshot wound in the back while arresting two drugged teenagers.[4] His name was also etched into the memorial after his death at the age of 61 on 20 January 2011,[4] which was ruled a homicide by the Franklin County Coroner in March 2011.[5]
The monument is approximately 15feet wide and 10feet tall, made out of Barre Gray granite with polished black standard inserts.[6] Atop the center of its base stands a tapering pillar crowned by a bronze Columbus Division of Police badge with a black mourning band.[3] A plaque beneath the badge reads as follows:[3]
| SERVED FAITHFULLY SACRIFICED VALIANTLY REMEMBERED ETERNALLY DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR FELLOW COLUMBUS POLICE OFFICERS THIS 26th DAY OF MAY 2000 |
Three back-to-back rectangular slabs, bricked up in the base and inscribed with white lettering, list the names of police officers who have died in the line of duty.[7] The name of Columbus SWAT officer Steven M. Smith is currently the last (56th) among them after being engraved on May 11, 2016; he was shot in Clintonville on April 10 of that year and succumbed to his injuries three days later.[8]