June 16, 2025 • 23 mins
The Cape Coral Police Department's Honor Guard stands as the living embodiment of law enforcement tradition and respect. Sergeant Joe Zalenski and Officer Steven Klakowicz pull back the curtain on this specialized unit in this episode of the Cape CopCast.
Described as wearing "the tuxedo of police uniforms," these officers serve as the formal representation of the Cape Coral Police Department at events ranging from community celebrations to the most somber of occasions. With approximately twenty members drawn from various divisions throughout the department, the Honor Guard represents the entire agency while preserving the ceremonial aspects of policing that connect today's officers with generations past.
Among their most solemn duties is attending line-of-duty death ceremonies for fallen officers across Florida and beyond. Officer Klakowicz and Sergeant Zalenski share experiences making hours-long journeys to stand in formation and honor officers who made the ultimate sacrifice. The emotional weight of these moments is so significant that "part of the Honor Guard uniform is issued sunglasses" to help officers maintain their composure during these difficult ceremonies.
The conversation takes listeners to Washington DC during National Police Week, where thousands of officers from around the world gather to commemorate fallen colleagues. Cape Coral's Honor Guard participated in ceremonies at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, standing alongside officers from departments large and small, domestic and international. This powerful demonstration of brotherhood reminds us that despite geographic distances, all officers share a common bond and purpose.
Whether presenting colors at local ceremonies, carrying the department's official flag (recently redesigned through collaboration with local students), or representing Cape Coral at national events, these officers uphold traditions that connect present-day policing with its rich history. As Sergeant Zalenski says in this episode, "It's important that we all have a sense of where we've come from in order to know where we're going."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Cop
cast.
I'm one of your hosts, LisaGreenberg, and she is back.
My friend Mercedes is herejoining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, it's good to be back.
Having a baby is a great thing,but it's also good to have a
purpose at work.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We've missed you here on the podcast.
I'm sure our listeners havemissed you too.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I just go visit him at lunch.
He's very cute.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's perfect.
He is very cute.
I can't vouch for that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So today we have two very special guests One we've
had on before, One's a new guest.
One is Sergeant Joe Zielinskiand the other is Stephen
Klakowicz Sarge.
Do you want to start and tellus a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Sure, I've been with the Cape Coral Police Department
since 2005.
Before that, I was a policeofficer in Pennsylvania since
1997.
And I currently serve as asergeant in the Community
Services Bureau.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, and if you haven't listened to our episode
in the past with him, you shouldgo back and give it a listen.
It's a good one about schoolsand all that good stuff, school
security it's a good one.
And then we have OfficerKlakowicz.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I've been with the department since 2021.
And then we have OfficerKlakowicz.
I've been with the departmentsince 2021.
I'm currently an FTO on patroland I had no prior law
enforcement before working herewith Cape Coral.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Field training officer is what FTO is.
For anyone who doesn't know allthe acronyms, I went through a
big learning curve where I hadto learn all that.
So we wanted to have you guys ontoday to talk about the Honor
Guard.
Especially with everything lastmonth with Police Week and all
that good stuff, we did a lot ofphotos and videos showing our
Honor Guard.
So for anyone who's listeningas a podcast, now would be the
(01:33):
time to probably switch toYouTube, because we're going to
show some pictures just so youcan kind of get a visual idea of
the Honor Guard and all thedifferent things that they do.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So the Honor Guard is the formal representation of
the police department at bothceremonial events, somber events
and celebrations.
One of our primary roles is torepresent the agency in the
presentation of colors atvarious city events.
(02:02):
We are also responsible forparticipating and representing
the agency in line of dutydeaths across the state and we
have about 20 members.
Give or take.
That number moves around alittle bit, but the uniform that
is most customary for ourpurposes is what I would
consider to be like the tuxedoof police uniforms.
(02:24):
So when we're wearing that it'sa very formal occasion and it's
a formal representation of thepolice department as a whole.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And just recently you guys went to DC to commemorate
police week.
What was that like?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
It was a really really great experience.
It was my first time attending.
I've been on the honor guardjust over a year now and I had
the opportunity to go.
They put it out to all themembers and I was luckily one of
the four people that werechosen and it was just really
really cool and really, you know, humbling and to be able to see
(03:03):
all of these departments fromaround the country, as well as
even around the world there'sinternational police officers
that show up to these events andfor everybody to just come
together and there's a lot ofremembrance and ceremony behind
it and being able to be part ofthat, I felt really fortunate to
be able to go and attend and dothat.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, my old department actually bumped up
right to the DC line.
I worked in Montgomery Countyand so our department was also
pretty heavily involved inPolice Week and a lot of
officers would volunteer to goto the airport and pick up the
families of the fallen thatwould be invited to attend, and
I know that that was a reallyspecial experience for everybody
.
So I'm sure just being a partof that along with all the other
(03:46):
officers is just that's reallycool to go and see everybody and
it's kind of like reminds youof the brotherhood that exists
with everyone too, that you'reall a part of.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, just just being here a lot.
We don't.
You know we're we're in thebottom corner of the country,
right, and we see police aroundus and within the state, but
when you get to see how otherdepartments do things from
around the country and you get adifferent perspective on it,
that was cool to experience,because I've only ever worked
here as well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So for sure.
If someone wants to be a partof the honor guard, what's the
process?
There are people selected.
Do they have to do?
Of course the like formerdancer in me is thinking of the
word audition that to do?
Of course the like formerdancer in me is thinking of the
word audition.
That's not the right word.
Do they have to provethemselves in some way?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
So when we recruit we put out a memo of interest,
much like we would do for anyother type of position.
The difference between a lot ofthe other specialties in the
police department the honorguard team is that it's more of
an ad hoc organization where wedraw personnel from across the
department.
So, for instance, I'm incommunity services, steve is in
(04:51):
patrol, we have members in themotors unit, detectives Uh, we
have them across the agency andwe draw from that pool of people
because it is what I wouldconsider to be sort of like a
part-time thing that we do andit's as needed.
But there's a an amount oftraining that goes into it, uh,
the selection process of peoplewho are interested.
(05:12):
It isn't that we can't trainpeople, but, uh, people who come
from a military backgroundusually already have the drill
and ceremony portion of, uh, thestepping and facing movements
and so forth.
But it's not anything that wecan't teach.
We have several team leaders.
We have training monthly, so wehave the opportunities for
people who, if they don't, or ifthey only have what they
(05:32):
learned in the police academy asfar as marching skills and so
forth, we can work with that andthen train them up to what it
is we do.
The difference for us is there'sa lot of weapon manipulation
when it comes to the for the uhpresentation of colors.
We have inert rifles that weutilize for that, and then we
also have.
The difference for us isthere's a lot of weapon
manipulation when it comes tothe presentation of colors.
We have inert rifles that weutilize for that, and then we
also have the flags.
That's a bit of a curveball forsomeone who's only just done
marching or facing movements.
(05:53):
So we add that in and then wetrain them up and we don't put
them in any position to fail.
We give them a lot ofopportunities to be able to
conduct repetitions, which iswhy we conduct the monthly
training.
So that way, anytime that wehave an event coming up, we take
those individuals, we try togive them as much opportunity to
practice and then, when we getto the events, we practice there
(06:13):
as well, prior to the actualevent.
Usually, when we're doing whatwe're doing, that's the very end
of what we were there to do.
So going on stage for the useof a better, better term is the
last thing that we do Once weleave the stage.
That's pretty much it.
We're wrapping up and we'removing out of the way for the
rest of the show to proceed.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I know you guys travel all over the state for,
sadly, when we see line of duty,deaths of officers and most
recently I think you guys did aneight hour trip there and back.
So eight hours there and eighthours back in like the span of
24 hours to go to an officerfuneral and represent.
(06:51):
What was that like?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, I had the opportunity to do that twice
last year and one of them was inJacksonville, so it was one of
those where it's, you know,leave at 3.30 in the morning,
get home at 7 pm that night.
Um, but yeah, you, you again.
You see a lot of these agenciesfrom the entire state and even
other agencies from around thecountry that will show their
(07:15):
respect and um and come to these, these ceremonies, and it's
it's just a reminder of of thething that we do, and some
people have made a sacrifice anda lot of the officers from
these departments are reallyreceptive and they're really
glad to see our agency and otheragencies coming to show our
(07:38):
respect as well.
They appreciate that that goesa long way.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
What exactly do you guys do at those types of, you
know ceremonies?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So, for the line of duty death funerals and I
wouldn't say that any two haveever been the same We've had,
unfortunately, the experience ofgoing up to Charlotte County in
the past two years and I wouldsay that the ones that we've
attended in Charlotte County aresimilar in nature to such as,
maybe, nassau County, where wewent two years ago, or Claremont
(08:09):
where we went last year.
So there's a little bit of avariation to every line of duty
death funeral, but A significantamount of the state and I would
say there's some agenciesacross the country who send
membership I know Chicago andNew York are very good about
sending membership to everysingle line of duty death across
(08:30):
the country that they can sendtheir personnel to guard as, as
for again, as formalrepresentation of the agency's
intentions to grieve alongsidethe agency that has lost that
officer or deputy.
So when we get there, we willmeet up with whoever the organ
(08:50):
and we already know who theorganizers are and, depending on
what the, the um, the uhprogram is going to look like,
the uh, the honor guardpersonnel are usually dismissed
after a service to a certainarea for the purposes of lending
comfort to the grieving agencyas well as, of course, the
(09:12):
family members and friends.
So we will be participating instanding at attention,
presenting arms, possiblyutilizing our department flag
for honor cordons, all kinds ofdifferent types and aspects of
line of duty, death, funeralevents, and each one, like I
said, each one's a little bitdifferent.
Sometimes there's a flyover,sometimes there's a well,
(09:38):
there's almost invariably amotorcycle procession that
precedes the department that'sgrieving.
So there's a lot of differentplaces where you can be utilized
.
Oftentimes we're used as anhonor cordon for the family and
the grieving agency.
So wherever that family getsout of their vehicles, there's a
(10:00):
tunnel, if you will, on bothsides of that walkway to
wherever it is that they'regoing, and all the departments
who are in honor guard personnelwill form that, those walls for
those personnel and renderhonors as they pass.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That has to be extremely emotional and you're
kind of in a position where youguys have to be the strong ones,
right Like you're watchingthese family members walk by,
and that's gotta be tough.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, it is, and that's what we say.
That's why the um part of thehonor guard uniform is is issued
sunglasses.
For that reason, and again whenwe were in DC for police week,
we did that same type of umhonor cordon for these fallen
officers families, but just on amuch grander scale, with you
(10:45):
know the number of officers thatare lost every year, versus it
just being one officer's servicethat must have been pretty
incredible.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
police week is to kind of commemorate the lives
that were lost that year in theline of duty, and even prior to
that it's a week-longculmination leading up to the
actual Peace Officers Memorial,correct?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah, so we did have the honor cordon that we
participated in, where they havea candlelight vigil on the
national lawn and all of thefallen officers' families attend
that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
When we get into town it's usually celebrated the
week of May 15th, and JFK is thepresident who instituted that,
I think in 1962.
And it started as a relativelysmall thing, but then, with the
advent of the National LawEnforcement Officers Memorial
and the museum there as well, itgrew in substance and today I
would say that there wasprobably no less than 10,000
(11:43):
officers from across the worldwho attended at any given time.
Um, but, uh, what Steve wastalking about is the Monday
night is a reception at the atthe uh memorial and the museum,
which are right across thestreet from each other, and
that's primarily for the honorguards that have come in from
out of town.
And then Tuesday is Tuesdaynight is the candlelight vigil,
(12:03):
and Tuesday during the day,which is the honor cordon
Steve's referring to, uh, thereare hundreds of officers, uh, 50
to 50 on each side and they goon.
There's two separate locationsand they go on for about three
hours.
Wow, so you'll be deployed witha team and you could be with
someone from anywhere in thecountry.
Uh, you just sign up, there'san organized way of doing it and
(12:25):
you're given a time.
We arrive, we get into thecordon and then the families are
escorted to the VIP section ofthe candlelight vigil and then
we come back for the candlelightvigil for that evening, where
they read all the names that arebeing inscribed in the wall for
this year, for 2025.
And you were referring to theline of duty deaths that
(12:47):
occurred in 24.
In addition to that, there's alot of research that goes into
previous law enforcementofficers across the history of
our country and when theydetermined that there was a line
of duty death, those officersare also added.
So there will be officers fromyears past added in 25 that were
researched and located as lineof duty deaths during their
(13:09):
whenever they served.
And if that's determined,they'll also get the honors as
well.
Thursday is the national address.
This year it was a.
There was a video from thepresident and the vice president
spoke along with a lot of thecabinet members who were present
and that'll be on the nationallawn and there's probably
(13:31):
another 5,000 to 6,000 officersthere as well, and the names of
the people going on the wall areread by state.
So it's not uncommon for eachstate, when each state is
recognized, for all the membersof the police officers who are
active duty, for those states tocome to attention and salute
while those names are read.
So that's also like a sort of asomber moment where you try to
(13:52):
respect those who come beforeyou and pay the ultimate price
for the safety of theircommunities.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's a busy week and I know that while a lot of it is
very somber, there's also thatlike sense of camaraderie, like
everyone kind of coming together.
That is uplifting in a sense.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
You know, it's one of the reasons, like I consider
myself like the dinosaur andSteve's the young, the young,
the young guy.
So you know, I see it asimportant as to turn over these
traditions over to the nextgeneration of law enforcement
because, at some point I won'tbe here, and it's important that
we all have a sense of wherewe've come from in order to know
where we're going.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
How long have we attended?
Because I know I've pulledpictures from that we have just
in our archives from like.
I don't know, they look likeI'm bad with times, but it
looked like the 70s or 80s orsomething like that.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We've had several iterations of the Honor Guard
just in my time here.
When Chief Sizemore becamechief, he put a new emphasis on
that part of our communityengagement, particularly where
the Honor Guard is concerned,and has really done a great job
of allowing us to push that ballforward to represent the agency
in the community and statewideand nationally.
(15:01):
With the trip to DC Severalyears that I'm aware of, we've
only really been focused in ongetting back there, probably
since 2021.
But I know officers who haveretired here now that used to
attend and I have pictures ofthem from serving in.
The uniform has changed severaltimes as well, but we used to
have a white shirt with a gold Iguess it's a cravat and there
(15:26):
was a specialized headgear withit as well.
So there's people who have beenserving in the Honor Guard At
least the pictures I've seen isat least since the 90s.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
We worked on a project together, you and public affairs, where
we had students work to designthe flag that we use for some of
these ceremonies, and that waspretty cool.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
So the department flag is a physical
representation of our agencythat we are allowed that we use
to display our presence, muchlike any other flag would be
utilized when we present colors.
We use three flags in particular.
We have the American flag, wehave the state of Florida flag
and we have the agency flag aswell, and it was I think it was
(16:10):
important for us to modernizethat image for us consistent
with a lot of the modernizationthat's going on in the police
department over the past fewyears.
So we have a couple of thosethat's integral to what we do
and that's the flag we take.
So if we were to go to a, whenwe went to Claremont, for
instance, we did not, we tookour.
We take all of our equipmentwith us to these events because
(16:30):
we don't know exactly what isgoing to be asked of us at any
given time.
So we're prepared for justabout every eventuality.
But invariably the agency flagsare represented somewhere along
the way for the family to beable to come by, and when the
family passes the flags aredipped in honor of the sacrifice
(16:51):
.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's sort of like a salute.
Oh wow, so I know you sent somephotos in.
Do you want to talk about someof those?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, I think the photographs actually provide a
good representation for ourpublic who is unfamiliar with
it's OK to discuss this, but avisual representation for our
public who is unfamiliar withit's okay to discuss this, but a
visual representation of whatwe're discussing might drive
that point home as to where wewould be seen and what we wear
and what we're equipped with.
The first photograph I sent youis, uh is actually one of our
longest serving honor guardmembers, which is, uh, sro nick
(17:16):
slover, and he's been with thehonor guard, I think, since the
mid 2000s as well.
The photograph is of somethingthat we all do, which is we help
each other get dressed.
It's not a very comfortableoutfit to wear, it's not a very
comfortable outfit to stand in,it's a lot going on and it's
also rather difficult to equipyourself because of the way the
Sam Brown is designed and wherethe, the rests for the belts are
(17:41):
exist.
So sometimes you need a littlehelp from your friends and in
this photograph that's exactlywhat we're doing.
We're making sure nick issquared away.
And then we have one of ourother team leaders is sro clint
atkinson, and he is our sort ofour, our uniformity czar, so
he'll he'll go through everyoneto make sure that everybody is
exactly the way they need to be.
Make Make sure that the uniformis presented properly, because
(18:03):
it's very important for us to benot only uniform but also to be
representing the agency to thebest of our ability with that
outfit.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, we'll be at events.
And you're walking towardswherever we need to be and you
feel a tug on your back orsomething, and that's just
somebody.
This is a little out of place.
Let me get this.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Next photograph is actually of SRO Clint Atkinson
leading the team.
I believe this is at a BlueLine Bears event where we
present colors and you're theemcee, so you're probably the
one who's up on stage with themicrophone while this is
occurring.
This is part of the honorcordon that we did two years ago
, and I think that's OfficerSlover first, myself second and
(18:42):
the rest of the team therebehind us, but that gives a good
representation of what thathonor cordon looks like.
Once you get past the four ofus, you'll see uniforms that
differ, headgear that changes,uniform colors change, and
that's the entire line ofofficers that are waiting to
receive the families of thefallen.
This is just prior to one ofthe candlelight vigils.
I think this is the 2023candlelight vigil, where we're
(19:04):
on the national lawn and we'llbe in the blue polo shirts for
that.
You'll see our badges have themourning band.
That's very common when thereis a line of duty, death or
certain circumstances such aspolice, we will wear the shroud
to indicate that we're in aperiod of mourning.
Next shot is the four of us infront of the Capitol.
That's where the nationaladdress occurs, on that national
lawn, and that's where thedignitaries speak on Thursday,
(19:29):
usually Thursday of that week.
This is one of the funerals forone of the FHP troopers who
passed away and the person whowas here last time, detective
Jenna Newton.
She's in that photograph aswell.
She's also a member of theHonor Guard.
We have a photograph with thechief.
Last summer we did an eventwhere we brought the entire
Honor Guard for a uniformityinspection to make sure
(19:49):
everybody had everything thatthey needed.
So once a year we all gettogether and make sure that we
have everything we need and thatit's looking proper, it's in
good serviceable condition orwhether or not it needs
replacement.
We took the opportunity to geta couple of photographs and that
was terrific.
He's been incredibly supportiveof this entire process.
And then the next shot is ofthe entire team in the current
(20:10):
uniform.
When we get new members in, theuniform is actually rather
difficult to assemble becausethe parts come from all over.
So we have members that arestill utilizing a class A
uniform, which is what I wouldsay is the business suit from
the tuxedo.
Step down from that and then,when we're able to get them
(20:31):
fully equipped, we can do thatinspection with everybody else.
This is in Claremont and it isnot uncommon for us to take a
photograph with the grievingagencies, one of their vehicles,
so that way we can share withwith the community that that
their police departmentrepresented at this somber
occasion, and a fellow uh lawenforcement agency.
The next photo is at Blue Massat St Andrews with and I think
(20:53):
the sheriff's office isintermingled with us.
It's not uncommon for us to doa uh a joint event with the Lee
County Sheriff's office or theFort Myers police department if
it's something regional.
And this, this photograph hereis down at the eco park where we
have a lot of our events.
It's very common for us to berequested for events at our eco
park, cause that's also where wehave our veterans memorials.
(21:14):
And then that was the nextphotograph is our team at the
butterfly release and there'sdetective Newton, who went with
us this year to DC and she'spart of the honor corps and it's
not uncommon.
The last two times I've goneit's rained very hard on that
day and you know I hate to sayit this way, but it's almost
like the sky is grieving withyou for those moments and our
(21:36):
team.
This year, in front of theWhite House, there was a federal
agencies that were regulatingwho entered this VIP area and I
had asked them you know whatconstituted the VIP area, just
as a point of conversation, andthey said you know, you're part
of the agency or you're part ofthe family.
And it was at no time in mylife more that I did not ever
(21:59):
want to be a VIP.
This was the most recent event.
I believe this is at MissionBarbecue, where they asked us to
present the colors for them forone of their events During
Police Week.
During Police Week.
Terrific community partner.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Well, thank you for submitting all those pictures
and kind of going through andgiving people a better idea of
what exactly you guys do, whyyou're so important.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I just appreciate the opportunity to come on and talk
about this stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We appreciate you coming my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I think the genesis for us wanting to explain our
function was we've receivedquite a few questions.
I've even seen it on socialwhere people are like what is an
honor guard?
What does an honor guard do,you know?
It was sort of like it wasinquisitive.
You know there's this functionof the police department and
we're not quite sure what it isand why it exists the way it
does.
So hopefully we had theopportunity to clear some of
(22:43):
that up for our community.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You did great.
You guys both did great job andwelcome back.
I think you're our first repeatguest besides the chief, so
congrats.
We appreciate you WelcomeMercedes coming back.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Oh, thanks yes.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I'm so happy you're back.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I've missed you.
I'm happy to be back.
I missed you too.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Awesome.
Well, thank you all so much forjoining us and for anyone who's
watching or listening.
Thank you, and we will catchyou next time.
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Cop
cast.
I'm one of your hosts, LisaGreenberg, and she is back.
My friend Mercedes is herejoining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, it's good to be back.
Having a baby is a great thing,but it's also good to have a
purpose at work.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We've missed you here on the podcast.
I'm sure our listeners havemissed you too.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I just go visit him at lunch.
He's very cute.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's perfect.
He is very cute.
I can't vouch for that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So today we have two very special guests One we've
had on before, One's a new guest.
One is Sergeant Joe Zielinskiand the other is Stephen
Klakowicz Sarge.
Do you want to start and tellus a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Sure, I've been with the Cape Coral Police Department
since 2005.
Before that, I was a policeofficer in Pennsylvania since
1997.
And I currently serve as asergeant in the Community
Services Bureau.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, and if you haven't listened to our episode
in the past with him, you shouldgo back and give it a listen.
It's a good one about schoolsand all that good stuff, school
security it's a good one.
And then we have OfficerKlakowicz.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I've been with the department since 2021.
And then we have OfficerKlakowicz.
I've been with the departmentsince 2021.
I'm currently an FTO on patroland I had no prior law
enforcement before working herewith Cape Coral.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Field training officer is what FTO is.
For anyone who doesn't know allthe acronyms, I went through a
big learning curve where I hadto learn all that.
So we wanted to have you guys ontoday to talk about the Honor
Guard.
Especially with everything lastmonth with Police Week and all
that good stuff, we did a lot ofphotos and videos showing our
Honor Guard.
So for anyone who's listeningas a podcast, now would be the
(01:33):
time to probably switch toYouTube, because we're going to
show some pictures just so youcan kind of get a visual idea of
the Honor Guard and all thedifferent things that they do.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So the Honor Guard is the formal representation of
the police department at bothceremonial events, somber events
and celebrations.
One of our primary roles is torepresent the agency in the
presentation of colors atvarious city events.
(02:02):
We are also responsible forparticipating and representing
the agency in line of dutydeaths across the state and we
have about 20 members.
Give or take.
That number moves around alittle bit, but the uniform that
is most customary for ourpurposes is what I would
consider to be like the tuxedoof police uniforms.
(02:24):
So when we're wearing that it'sa very formal occasion and it's
a formal representation of thepolice department as a whole.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And just recently you guys went to DC to commemorate
police week.
What was that like?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
It was a really really great experience.
It was my first time attending.
I've been on the honor guardjust over a year now and I had
the opportunity to go.
They put it out to all themembers and I was luckily one of
the four people that werechosen and it was just really
really cool and really, you know, humbling and to be able to see
(03:03):
all of these departments fromaround the country, as well as
even around the world there'sinternational police officers
that show up to these events andfor everybody to just come
together and there's a lot ofremembrance and ceremony behind
it and being able to be part ofthat, I felt really fortunate to
be able to go and attend and dothat.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, my old department actually bumped up
right to the DC line.
I worked in Montgomery Countyand so our department was also
pretty heavily involved inPolice Week and a lot of
officers would volunteer to goto the airport and pick up the
families of the fallen thatwould be invited to attend, and
I know that that was a reallyspecial experience for everybody
.
So I'm sure just being a partof that along with all the other
(03:46):
officers is just that's reallycool to go and see everybody and
it's kind of like reminds youof the brotherhood that exists
with everyone too, that you'reall a part of.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, just just being here a lot.
We don't.
You know we're we're in thebottom corner of the country,
right, and we see police aroundus and within the state, but
when you get to see how otherdepartments do things from
around the country and you get adifferent perspective on it,
that was cool to experience,because I've only ever worked
here as well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So for sure.
If someone wants to be a partof the honor guard, what's the
process?
There are people selected.
Do they have to do?
Of course the like formerdancer in me is thinking of the
word audition that to do?
Of course the like formerdancer in me is thinking of the
word audition.
That's not the right word.
Do they have to provethemselves in some way?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
So when we recruit we put out a memo of interest,
much like we would do for anyother type of position.
The difference between a lot ofthe other specialties in the
police department the honorguard team is that it's more of
an ad hoc organization where wedraw personnel from across the
department.
So, for instance, I'm incommunity services, steve is in
(04:51):
patrol, we have members in themotors unit, detectives Uh, we
have them across the agency andwe draw from that pool of people
because it is what I wouldconsider to be sort of like a
part-time thing that we do andit's as needed.
But there's a an amount oftraining that goes into it, uh,
the selection process of peoplewho are interested.
(05:12):
It isn't that we can't trainpeople, but, uh, people who come
from a military backgroundusually already have the drill
and ceremony portion of, uh, thestepping and facing movements
and so forth.
But it's not anything that wecan't teach.
We have several team leaders.
We have training monthly, so wehave the opportunities for
people who, if they don't, or ifthey only have what they
(05:32):
learned in the police academy asfar as marching skills and so
forth, we can work with that andthen train them up to what it
is we do.
The difference for us is there'sa lot of weapon manipulation
when it comes to the for the uhpresentation of colors.
We have inert rifles that weutilize for that, and then we
also have.
The difference for us isthere's a lot of weapon
manipulation when it comes tothe presentation of colors.
We have inert rifles that weutilize for that, and then we
also have the flags.
That's a bit of a curveball forsomeone who's only just done
marching or facing movements.
(05:53):
So we add that in and then wetrain them up and we don't put
them in any position to fail.
We give them a lot ofopportunities to be able to
conduct repetitions, which iswhy we conduct the monthly
training.
So that way, anytime that wehave an event coming up, we take
those individuals, we try togive them as much opportunity to
practice and then, when we getto the events, we practice there
(06:13):
as well, prior to the actualevent.
Usually, when we're doing whatwe're doing, that's the very end
of what we were there to do.
So going on stage for the useof a better, better term is the
last thing that we do Once weleave the stage.
That's pretty much it.
We're wrapping up and we'removing out of the way for the
rest of the show to proceed.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I know you guys travel all over the state for,
sadly, when we see line of duty,deaths of officers and most
recently I think you guys did aneight hour trip there and back.
So eight hours there and eighthours back in like the span of
24 hours to go to an officerfuneral and represent.
(06:51):
What was that like?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, I had the opportunity to do that twice
last year and one of them was inJacksonville, so it was one of
those where it's, you know,leave at 3.30 in the morning,
get home at 7 pm that night.
Um, but yeah, you, you again.
You see a lot of these agenciesfrom the entire state and even
other agencies from around thecountry that will show their
(07:15):
respect and um and come to these, these ceremonies, and it's
it's just a reminder of of thething that we do, and some
people have made a sacrifice anda lot of the officers from
these departments are reallyreceptive and they're really
glad to see our agency and otheragencies coming to show our
(07:38):
respect as well.
They appreciate that that goesa long way.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
What exactly do you guys do at those types of, you
know ceremonies?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So, for the line of duty death funerals and I
wouldn't say that any two haveever been the same We've had,
unfortunately, the experience ofgoing up to Charlotte County in
the past two years and I wouldsay that the ones that we've
attended in Charlotte County aresimilar in nature to such as,
maybe, nassau County, where wewent two years ago, or Claremont
(08:09):
where we went last year.
So there's a little bit of avariation to every line of duty
death funeral, but A significantamount of the state and I would
say there's some agenciesacross the country who send
membership I know Chicago andNew York are very good about
sending membership to everysingle line of duty death across
(08:30):
the country that they can sendtheir personnel to guard as, as
for again, as formalrepresentation of the agency's
intentions to grieve alongsidethe agency that has lost that
officer or deputy.
So when we get there, we willmeet up with whoever the organ
(08:50):
and we already know who theorganizers are and, depending on
what the, the um, the uhprogram is going to look like,
the uh, the honor guardpersonnel are usually dismissed
after a service to a certainarea for the purposes of lending
comfort to the grieving agencyas well as, of course, the
(09:12):
family members and friends.
So we will be participating instanding at attention,
presenting arms, possiblyutilizing our department flag
for honor cordons, all kinds ofdifferent types and aspects of
line of duty, death, funeralevents, and each one, like I
said, each one's a little bitdifferent.
Sometimes there's a flyover,sometimes there's a well,
(09:38):
there's almost invariably amotorcycle procession that
precedes the department that'sgrieving.
So there's a lot of differentplaces where you can be utilized
.
Oftentimes we're used as anhonor cordon for the family and
the grieving agency.
So wherever that family getsout of their vehicles, there's a
(10:00):
tunnel, if you will, on bothsides of that walkway to
wherever it is that they'regoing, and all the departments
who are in honor guard personnelwill form that, those walls for
those personnel and renderhonors as they pass.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That has to be extremely emotional and you're
kind of in a position where youguys have to be the strong ones,
right Like you're watchingthese family members walk by,
and that's gotta be tough.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, it is, and that's what we say.
That's why the um part of thehonor guard uniform is is issued
sunglasses.
For that reason, and again whenwe were in DC for police week,
we did that same type of umhonor cordon for these fallen
officers families, but just on amuch grander scale, with you
(10:45):
know the number of officers thatare lost every year, versus it
just being one officer's servicethat must have been pretty
incredible.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
police week is to kind of commemorate the lives
that were lost that year in theline of duty, and even prior to
that it's a week-longculmination leading up to the
actual Peace Officers Memorial,correct?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah, so we did have the honor cordon that we
participated in, where they havea candlelight vigil on the
national lawn and all of thefallen officers' families attend
that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
When we get into town it's usually celebrated the
week of May 15th, and JFK is thepresident who instituted that,
I think in 1962.
And it started as a relativelysmall thing, but then, with the
advent of the National LawEnforcement Officers Memorial
and the museum there as well, itgrew in substance and today I
would say that there wasprobably no less than 10,000
(11:43):
officers from across the worldwho attended at any given time.
Um, but, uh, what Steve wastalking about is the Monday
night is a reception at the atthe uh memorial and the museum,
which are right across thestreet from each other, and
that's primarily for the honorguards that have come in from
out of town.
And then Tuesday is Tuesdaynight is the candlelight vigil,
(12:03):
and Tuesday during the day,which is the honor cordon
Steve's referring to, uh, thereare hundreds of officers, uh, 50
to 50 on each side and they goon.
There's two separate locationsand they go on for about three
hours.
Wow, so you'll be deployed witha team and you could be with
someone from anywhere in thecountry.
Uh, you just sign up, there'san organized way of doing it and
(12:25):
you're given a time.
We arrive, we get into thecordon and then the families are
escorted to the VIP section ofthe candlelight vigil and then
we come back for the candlelightvigil for that evening, where
they read all the names that arebeing inscribed in the wall for
this year, for 2025.
And you were referring to theline of duty deaths that
(12:47):
occurred in 24.
In addition to that, there's alot of research that goes into
previous law enforcementofficers across the history of
our country and when theydetermined that there was a line
of duty death, those officersare also added.
So there will be officers fromyears past added in 25 that were
researched and located as lineof duty deaths during their
(13:09):
whenever they served.
And if that's determined,they'll also get the honors as
well.
Thursday is the national address.
This year it was a.
There was a video from thepresident and the vice president
spoke along with a lot of thecabinet members who were present
and that'll be on the nationallawn and there's probably
(13:31):
another 5,000 to 6,000 officersthere as well, and the names of
the people going on the wall areread by state.
So it's not uncommon for eachstate, when each state is
recognized, for all the membersof the police officers who are
active duty, for those states tocome to attention and salute
while those names are read.
So that's also like a sort of asomber moment where you try to
(13:52):
respect those who come beforeyou and pay the ultimate price
for the safety of theircommunities.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's a busy week and I know that while a lot of it is
very somber, there's also thatlike sense of camaraderie, like
everyone kind of coming together.
That is uplifting in a sense.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
You know, it's one of the reasons, like I consider
myself like the dinosaur andSteve's the young, the young,
the young guy.
So you know, I see it asimportant as to turn over these
traditions over to the nextgeneration of law enforcement
because, at some point I won'tbe here, and it's important that
we all have a sense of wherewe've come from in order to know
where we're going.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
How long have we attended?
Because I know I've pulledpictures from that we have just
in our archives from like.
I don't know, they look likeI'm bad with times, but it
looked like the 70s or 80s orsomething like that.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We've had several iterations of the Honor Guard
just in my time here.
When Chief Sizemore becamechief, he put a new emphasis on
that part of our communityengagement, particularly where
the Honor Guard is concerned,and has really done a great job
of allowing us to push that ballforward to represent the agency
in the community and statewideand nationally.
(15:01):
With the trip to DC Severalyears that I'm aware of, we've
only really been focused in ongetting back there, probably
since 2021.
But I know officers who haveretired here now that used to
attend and I have pictures ofthem from serving in.
The uniform has changed severaltimes as well, but we used to
have a white shirt with a gold Iguess it's a cravat and there
(15:26):
was a specialized headgear withit as well.
So there's people who have beenserving in the Honor Guard At
least the pictures I've seen isat least since the 90s.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
We worked on a project together, you and public affairs, where
we had students work to designthe flag that we use for some of
these ceremonies, and that waspretty cool.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
So the department flag is a physical
representation of our agencythat we are allowed that we use
to display our presence, muchlike any other flag would be
utilized when we present colors.
We use three flags in particular.
We have the American flag, wehave the state of Florida flag
and we have the agency flag aswell, and it was I think it was
(16:10):
important for us to modernizethat image for us consistent
with a lot of the modernizationthat's going on in the police
department over the past fewyears.
So we have a couple of thosethat's integral to what we do
and that's the flag we take.
So if we were to go to a, whenwe went to Claremont, for
instance, we did not, we tookour.
We take all of our equipmentwith us to these events because
(16:30):
we don't know exactly what isgoing to be asked of us at any
given time.
So we're prepared for justabout every eventuality.
But invariably the agency flagsare represented somewhere along
the way for the family to beable to come by, and when the
family passes the flags aredipped in honor of the sacrifice
(16:51):
.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's sort of like a salute.
Oh wow, so I know you sent somephotos in.
Do you want to talk about someof those?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, I think the photographs actually provide a
good representation for ourpublic who is unfamiliar with
it's OK to discuss this, but avisual representation for our
public who is unfamiliar withit's okay to discuss this, but a
visual representation of whatwe're discussing might drive
that point home as to where wewould be seen and what we wear
and what we're equipped with.
The first photograph I sent youis, uh is actually one of our
longest serving honor guardmembers, which is, uh, sro nick
(17:16):
slover, and he's been with thehonor guard, I think, since the
mid 2000s as well.
The photograph is of somethingthat we all do, which is we help
each other get dressed.
It's not a very comfortableoutfit to wear, it's not a very
comfortable outfit to stand in,it's a lot going on and it's
also rather difficult to equipyourself because of the way the
Sam Brown is designed and wherethe, the rests for the belts are
(17:41):
exist.
So sometimes you need a littlehelp from your friends and in
this photograph that's exactlywhat we're doing.
We're making sure nick issquared away.
And then we have one of ourother team leaders is sro clint
atkinson, and he is our sort ofour, our uniformity czar, so
he'll he'll go through everyoneto make sure that everybody is
exactly the way they need to be.
Make Make sure that the uniformis presented properly, because
(18:03):
it's very important for us to benot only uniform but also to be
representing the agency to thebest of our ability with that
outfit.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, we'll be at events.
And you're walking towardswherever we need to be and you
feel a tug on your back orsomething, and that's just
somebody.
This is a little out of place.
Let me get this.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Next photograph is actually of SRO Clint Atkinson
leading the team.
I believe this is at a BlueLine Bears event where we
present colors and you're theemcee, so you're probably the
one who's up on stage with themicrophone while this is
occurring.
This is part of the honorcordon that we did two years ago
, and I think that's OfficerSlover first, myself second and
(18:42):
the rest of the team therebehind us, but that gives a good
representation of what thathonor cordon looks like.
Once you get past the four ofus, you'll see uniforms that
differ, headgear that changes,uniform colors change, and
that's the entire line ofofficers that are waiting to
receive the families of thefallen.
This is just prior to one ofthe candlelight vigils.
I think this is the 2023candlelight vigil, where we're
(19:04):
on the national lawn and we'llbe in the blue polo shirts for
that.
You'll see our badges have themourning band.
That's very common when thereis a line of duty, death or
certain circumstances such aspolice, we will wear the shroud
to indicate that we're in aperiod of mourning.
Next shot is the four of us infront of the Capitol.
That's where the nationaladdress occurs, on that national
lawn, and that's where thedignitaries speak on Thursday,
(19:29):
usually Thursday of that week.
This is one of the funerals forone of the FHP troopers who
passed away and the person whowas here last time, detective
Jenna Newton.
She's in that photograph aswell.
She's also a member of theHonor Guard.
We have a photograph with thechief.
Last summer we did an eventwhere we brought the entire
Honor Guard for a uniformityinspection to make sure
(19:49):
everybody had everything thatthey needed.
So once a year we all gettogether and make sure that we
have everything we need and thatit's looking proper, it's in
good serviceable condition orwhether or not it needs
replacement.
We took the opportunity to geta couple of photographs and that
was terrific.
He's been incredibly supportiveof this entire process.
And then the next shot is ofthe entire team in the current
(20:10):
uniform.
When we get new members in, theuniform is actually rather
difficult to assemble becausethe parts come from all over.
So we have members that arestill utilizing a class A
uniform, which is what I wouldsay is the business suit from
the tuxedo.
Step down from that and then,when we're able to get them
(20:31):
fully equipped, we can do thatinspection with everybody else.
This is in Claremont and it isnot uncommon for us to take a
photograph with the grievingagencies, one of their vehicles,
so that way we can share withwith the community that that
their police departmentrepresented at this somber
occasion, and a fellow uh lawenforcement agency.
The next photo is at Blue Massat St Andrews with and I think
(20:53):
the sheriff's office isintermingled with us.
It's not uncommon for us to doa uh a joint event with the Lee
County Sheriff's office or theFort Myers police department if
it's something regional.
And this, this photograph hereis down at the eco park where we
have a lot of our events.
It's very common for us to berequested for events at our eco
park, cause that's also where wehave our veterans memorials.
(21:14):
And then that was the nextphotograph is our team at the
butterfly release and there'sdetective Newton, who went with
us this year to DC and she'spart of the honor corps and it's
not uncommon.
The last two times I've goneit's rained very hard on that
day and you know I hate to sayit this way, but it's almost
like the sky is grieving withyou for those moments and our
(21:36):
team.
This year, in front of theWhite House, there was a federal
agencies that were regulatingwho entered this VIP area and I
had asked them you know whatconstituted the VIP area, just
as a point of conversation, andthey said you know, you're part
of the agency or you're part ofthe family.
And it was at no time in mylife more that I did not ever
(21:59):
want to be a VIP.
This was the most recent event.
I believe this is at MissionBarbecue, where they asked us to
present the colors for them forone of their events During
Police Week.
During Police Week.
Terrific community partner.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Well, thank you for submitting all those pictures
and kind of going through andgiving people a better idea of
what exactly you guys do, whyyou're so important.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I just appreciate the opportunity to come on and talk
about this stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We appreciate you coming my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I think the genesis for us wanting to explain our
function was we've receivedquite a few questions.
I've even seen it on socialwhere people are like what is an
honor guard?
What does an honor guard do,you know?
It was sort of like it wasinquisitive.
You know there's this functionof the police department and
we're not quite sure what it isand why it exists the way it
does.
So hopefully we had theopportunity to clear some of
(22:43):
that up for our community.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You did great.
You guys both did great job andwelcome back.
I think you're our first repeatguest besides the chief, so
congrats.
We appreciate you WelcomeMercedes coming back.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Oh, thanks yes.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I'm so happy you're back.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I've missed you.
I'm happy to be back.
I missed you too.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Awesome.
Well, thank you all so much forjoining us and for anyone who's
watching or listening.
Thank you, and we will catchyou next time.
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