Fort Smith police move fallen officer memorial out of caution
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FORT SMITH, AR (KFSM) — A memorial honoring 11 fallen officers has been relocated from the Fort Smith Police Station front lawn out of caution after another Arkansas police memorial was vandalized.
Last week the Little Rock Police Chief announced he’s investigating several vandalizations on court buildings and police cruisers as a hate crime.
City Directors said the memorial was removed on Friday (Sept. 4) and placed behind a gated area for protection.
Just across the street the Sebastian County memorial still stands tall. Cpt. Philip Pevehouse says there are no intentions to move it at this time.
Chris Raynor helped remove the Fort Smith memorial and says it was extremely difficult to do.
“It’s emotional because you know moving something that’s been there for years, it’s part of history those people have nothing to do with what’s going on in America they should be in their final resting place you know and just let it be, it’s a shame that we’ve had to come to that nowadays I mean it’s blood sweat and tears are in that monument from those people, the emotion is hard to express,” Raynor said.
Raynor says it took about four hours to remove the memorial from its original spot and says he was thinking about those fallen officers the entire time.
At this time it’s unknown if the monument will be put back in its normal spot anytime soon.
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