Memorial Displays Names of 'Undeserving' Officers

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Questions are being raised about the names on a monument to honor fallen comrades.

Dennis Lippe, the man who runs the memorial, believes 50 of the officers' names on the memorial don't deserve to be etched in the stone.

The memorial was on display Friday, giving families a chance to remember their lost loved ones who died in the line of duty.

Zelda Edwards along with 20 other members of her family are getting a chance to praise their family hero. Herbert Melvin Goddard, Edwards' great grandfather, was a Deputy U.S. Marshall from Oklahoma killed in the line of duty in 1900.

"It's been almost a 109 years," Edwards said. "Think about that. That's a long time."

Goddard was one of several fallen officers whose name is now etched in stone along with 646 others at the state's law enforcement officers' memorial, but Lippe claimed 50 of them should not be included.

"We found some officers actually survived their wounds," Lippe said. "Some of them were just good officers that were added and we're not sure why."

Not all the officers were good.

Those who run the memorial said back in 1885 W.H. Carr was a U.S. Marshal. Lippe claims Carr smuggled guns into the Oklahoma City jail and helped free two prisoners.

During their escape, the prisoners shot and killed Oklahoma City Police Chief Milton Jones.

"So you have basically a murderer on a list of fallen heroes," Lippe said.

Despite some of the errors that have been made, Lippe said it's important to focus on those names that deserve to be on the memorial.

The memorial was built back in the 1960's and some of the mistakes were made because they didn't have access to modern research.

Because of the errors on the fallen officer memorial, officials said they're in the process of raising money to build an entirely new memorial.