Law Enforcement Support

Officer Logan Medlock

May 2023 Mission Moment

Officer Logan Medlock

London Police Department, Kentucky

On October 20, 2022, Police Officer Logan Medlock was killed when his patrol car was struck by a drunk driver at the intersection of KY 229 and South Main Street at 12:50 am.

Officer Medlock was driving southbound on South Main Street when the pickup truck ran a stop light and struck the patrol car, pushing it into the adjacent cemetery. Officer Medlock succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

The driver was arrested and charged with the murder of a police officer and driving under the influence.

Officer Medlock had served with the London Police Department for three years and had previously served with the Laurel County Correctional Center for one year. He is survived by his wife and son.

Impairment: The Omnipresent Threat to Safety on the Nation’s Roadways

Nick Breul, Senior Project Manager

National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum                                                                 

Every year, I tally up the law enforcement traffic-related deaths and conduct a thorough analysis of the circumstances of each fatal crash and struck-by case. I review crash reports, autopsy reports, investigative reports, and the submission forms that agencies complete to present their fallen officer’s name for inclusion on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

The data that I collate from all those documents provides law enforcement a picture of the trends that are occurring nationally and points out where safety and training improvements need to be made. It also records what crashes involved impairment (drugs or alcohol) as a factor.

The numbers of Americans killed and injured on our roadways is on the rise, as people appear to be more reckless, impatient, and distracted than ever before. The hard-fought issue of reducing impaired driving is being lost, as the numbers of alcohol impaired drivers has not diminished and as the legalization of recreational marijuana has undoubtedly added to the numbers of drugged drivers.

An extreme and unfortunate representation of that recklessness occurred in 2022, when a woman, who had just allegedly tweeted that she was “A great drunk driver,” struck and killed three people at a high rate of speed. Two of them, Pennsylvania State Troopers, who were trying to help the third victim, a pedestrian, get off an elevated portion of busy I-95. Three lives senselessly lost to the arrogance and impairment of one selfish individual.

Based on the research that I conducted, I found that 31% of law enforcement traffic related fatalities involved an impaired driver. While the majority reported involved alcohol, a few identified marijuana, or other substances as sources of impairment. That percentage is likely predicably higher. Higher, because in some of the cases we don’t get the complete information on whether the striking driver was found to be impaired, or what the results of a blood draw were, despite our efforts to follow up with the affected agency.

In two other struck-by fatalities in 2022, the officers were in the process of investigating a suspected impaired driver when they were struck and killed by another impaired driver. This occurred here in Maryland, where I live, when an officer on a Holiday DUI enforcement detail stopped a suspected impaired driver, only to be struck and killed by another impaired driver passing the scene of the stop.

Officers must treat traffic as the enemy. They should use their vehicle for protection at a crash scene or on a traffic stop. They must make right hand approaches where practical and wear their assigned reflective high visibility equipment. These are now standard recommendations, often supported by policy, however not utilized, thus increasing the chance of being struck.

While some jurisdictions have data on the increase of impaired driving in states which have legalized marijuana, though I am not aware of any national studies pursuing that. Here in Maryland, where recreational marijuana has essentially been legalized, you smell it regularly when you walk about, but I am also regularly smelling it while driving in my car. The potent odor of burning cannabis wafts from cars ahead of me, or next to me while stopped at a traffic light. Whether you agree with the legalization of marijuana or not, there can be no question, we are not prepared to deal with the inevitable uptick in impaired driving crashes linked to its consumption.

We must protect our protectors as they work to protect us by removing these dangerous drivers from the road. They must be given the tools to detect drug impairment in drivers and to better enforce driving while impaired laws. Classes such as Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and training Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) are critical to combat this continuing problem. If over one in four fatal law enforcement crashes involved an impaired driver, and add to that the other “D”, distraction; the road continues to be a dangerous place.

MADD May 2023 Officer of the Month 

The 245 Officers who made the Ultimate Sacrifice and gave their lives in the line of duty protecting America in 2022.

“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived."

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. While the actual date changes from year to year, National Police week is always the calendar week, beginning on Sunday, which includes May 15. This year National Police week is May 15-21, 2022.

In honor of 2023 National Police Week and Law Enforcement Memorial Day, MADD honors, as its May 2023 Officer of the Month, the 245 law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice and died in the line of duty in 2022. We honor the fallen and their families, and we are grateful for the sacrifices they made to keep our communities safe.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is centered in the 400 block of E Street, NW, Washington, DC and is the nation’s monument to law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Dedicated on October 15, 1991, the Memorial honors federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of our nation and its people.

The Memorial features two curving, 304-foot-long blue-gray marble walls. Carved on these walls are the names of more than 22,000 officers who died in the line of duty throughout U.S. history, dating back to the first known death in 1786. Unlike many other memorials in Washington, DC, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is ever-changing: new names of fallen officers are added to the monument each spring, in conjunction with National Police Week.

“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
Vivian Eney Cross, Survivor

“The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Proverbs 28:1


“Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to preserve both democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream.”
President George H.W. Bush


The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) (along with Concerns of Police Survivors, the Fraternal Order of Police and the FOP Auxiliary) is a principal organizer of National Police Week, the annual tribute to law enforcement service and sacrifice that is held each May in Washington, DC.
This year, 556 new names will be engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, which will bring the total to 26,303 officers killed in the line of duty since 1776 memorialized there.
The NLEOMF will host a Virtual Candlelight Vigil on May 13 at 8:00 p.m. to memorialize those who sacrificed all for their communities. National Police Week in-person events will be held May 15-21, 2023, in Washington, DC.
To see a full listing and the stories of the 245 law enforcement heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting American Citizens in 2022, click on the link below.

Law Enforcement Line of Duty Deaths in 2022 (odmp.org)

MADD extends our deepest condolences to the agencies and families who have lost officers and loved ones in the line of duty

For a complete listing of Officers lost in the line of duty, please visit: www.odmp.org

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