“We had a guy...”
- Rick McGill
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Tales From the Laurel Police Department
Summer 2025
This series of articles has been an uncomplicated string of personal war stories from my time at a small municipal police department between Baltimore and Washington, DC, told without a lot of extravagant details; just the facts, ma’am. Other cops would appreciate the bare-bones setups of my individual anecdotes. But I’ve tried to explain some of the police procedures for the general public who have little understanding of why we do some of the things we do.
The men and women I worked with are the finest you will find in any police agency anywhere. Some have since retired or moved on to other agencies; sadly some have passed on and are patrolling the streets of heaven. And some are still there fighting the good fight so people can sleep peacefully at night. Hopefully this bit of sucking up will make up for any inconsistencies in my memory of the events in which some of these great men and women made an appearance.
In our town, on my shift, these articles described policing in the last decades of the 20th century. But this one is different. I’m closing the book on We Had a Guy with an appropriate commemoration of the building of our monument to the men and women of law enforcement.
On May 16, 2000, the Laurel Police Memorial was dedicated at Ivy Hill Cemetery. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the memorial. Many names of deceased retirees have been engraved on the wing wall of the monument but thankfully to date no one has been entered onto the central monolith reserved for officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
There are approximately 1.28 million sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States, which is the highest figure ever. About 12-14 percent of those officers are female. Each May, National Law Enforcement Memorial Week honors the memory of 25,889 dedicated men and women who placed their ideals—of service to others, of duty, of protecting their community—above their own lives.
During Police Week in May 1998, Laurel Police Chaplain Warren Litchfield, president of the Ivy Hill Cemetery Association, informed Chief Gilmore that Ivy Hill would donate a parcel of land on which to build a police memorial. The cemetery holds memorials dedicated to the Laurel Fire Department, Laurel Rescue Squad, and Laurel American Legion Post 60, but even though the Police Department had conducted memorial ceremonies there for several years there was no specific memorial for law enforcement officers at the site. Ivy Hill Cemetery holds the grave of the first Prince George’s County police officer killed in the line of duty, Edward Dennis Merson, as well as other fallen heroes. Several of our own previous chiefs of police are also buried there, including Chief Edward Brown, Chief Earl J. Huber, as well as Sergeant James W. Harris, and probably many of our early bailiffs.
Design, funding, and construction of the Laurel Police Memorial spanned a two-year period from August 1998 to May 2000. The memorial project was a joint effort of Fraternal Order of Police Laurel Lodge no. 11, Inc., and the Laurel Police Department, together with our partners in the community—businesses and citizens who came together to build a lasting monument to the men and women of law enforcement. The individuals and organizations who built this memorial deserve every credit for its transformation from a dream into reality. It is for them and many, many others that we are proud to serve and protect.
Soon after Chief Gilmore announced the memorial site donation, a memorial committee was formed. Chaired by the author and comprised of Lt. Fred Carmen, Sgt. Richard Speake, Sgt. Robert Althoff, and Chief Gilmore, the committee began fundraising and approved, with some refinements, a design presented by the author in August 1998. There followed two years of fundraising and soliciting contractors to build the memorial itself. Our deadline was May 2000, during National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Week, and it took a lot of time and a lot of hard work by some very generous people to bring it off on time.
The design of the memorial consists of three granite stones adjoining a curved stone wall. The central stone will hold the names of Laurel police officers who fall in the line of duty should that day ever come. The wing monuments hold the names of deceased retirees who gave of themselves for a full career with our department. The circular plaza in front of the memorial serves as perfect setting for memorial services and the entire site rests at the edge of the cemetery with a lush forest background. The design and final construction has received countless compliments and even an award from the Prince George’s County Beautification Society.
The story of building the Laurel Police Memorial is filled with meetings, phone calls, fundraising, surprise donations, and the stress of hoping that it would be completed on time. But suffice to say that when it was finished, the hard work definitely showed. Dedication ceremonies were held on May 16, 2000, attended by about a hundred citizens and dignitaries from surrounding police agencies and nearly all our retired officers. The Prince George’s County Pipe Band supplied a stunning musical accompaniment while the Laurel Police Honor Guard presented the colors in a stirring display.
We were honored to have Maryland State Police Superintendent, Col. David B. Mitchell, and the Chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial from Washington DC, Craig Floyd, as guest speakers. Mr. Floyd made it a point to speak about the unique design of the Laurel Police Memorial that has provisions for the names of our deceased retirees. He expressed perfectly the meaning of our memorial when he said, in part, “A police officer does not have to die to be a hero.” On average, more than 62,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted each year and some 7,000 are injured annually. It is the everyday sacrifices of thousands of officers across the country who give a full career to the job—working holidays instead of being with family, working shift work, working in all weathers, often for less than adequate pay, risking death or injury—that makes them heroes.
The many speeches made that day had a common theme—that Laurel has indeed been most fortunate to have never lost an officer in the line of duty. But it was also acknowledged by everyone that ours is a dangerous business. The Laurel Police Memorial honors all law enforcement officers wherever they serve. Since the first recorded police death in 1792, there have been more than 25,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the United States, with 147 killed in 2024 and 21 to date in 2025. How long our luck or providence will shield us is a question no one can answer. But the men and women of the Laurel Police Department can at least be assured that a place of honor awaits them should they be called upon to make that ultimate sacrifice.
The dedication ceremonies were recorded that day by Laurel Cable Channel and I’ve had the old VHS tape transferred to digital format. The technology of the day was somewhat limited, but the video is available for viewing on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/LPD-MEmorial.
When a police investigation is complete it means either a crime has been solved or a noteworthy incident has been documented to the fullest extent necessary. The typical closing line of open-ended report narrative is, “Investigation to continue.” However, when the case has been taken as far as it can go and is closed by an arrest or the event requires no further police interest, then the closing line is, “No further law enforcement action needed. Case closed.”
Hopefully these past anecdotes in We Had a Guy haven’t offended too many readers of the Laurel History Boys’ popular publication. Voices of Laurel has certainly become a success despite a gritty article of mine now and then. I suppose every law enforcement generation thinks they had it rough, or they were the best. I just hope people will remember us. Thanks for your time.
Case closed.
Rick McGill grew up in Laurel and worked at the Laurel Police Department from 1977 to 2001. He authored two history books: Brass Buttons & Gun Leather, A History of the Laurel Police Department (soon to be in its 4th printing), and History of the North Tract, An Anne Arundel Time Capsule about the history of former Fort Meade property that is now part of Patuxent Research Refuge. There is hope that an uncensored printing of We Had a Guy may materialize in the future. In 2001 he retired to Montana and worked as a military security contractor for Blackwater Worldwide making 12 deployments to Iraq and Pakistan from 2004 to 2010. He still lives in Montana and served as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for many years.