“Today’s service is not a fundraiser nor a political event, but an opportunity to honor our fallen heroes,” FOP Quaker Lodge 88 President and retired Salem Police Department Lt. Donn Beeson said.

The annual service honors the memory and service of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their community each year and has been a tradition in Salem for over 20 years. Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Capt. Ryan Pike, FOP Quaker Lodge 88 secretary, said that 114 officers made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty in 2025. Each had their name and rank read in memoriam during a bagpipe dirge, which was followed with “Amazing Grace” performed by Bagpiper Kim Meek.

“That number is not just a statistic. They were sons, daughters, mothers and fathers, partners, friends, mentors, and brothers and sisters in blue. They were officers who kissed their families goodbye and never returned home. Today we remember them; we honor their sacrifice, their service and the legacy they leave behind,” Pike said. “We also honor the officers who continue the mission each day. The officers sitting in this room right now. Because every shift requires sacrifice. Every traffic stop carries uncertainty; every domestic call can change in seconds; every decision is made under pressure, scrutiny, and risk. Yet, law enforcement continues to show up not because it is easy or popular, but because it matters. Public safety and protecting communities matters.”

This year’s ceremony featured two guest speakers — United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David Toepfer and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Supervisory Special Agent Todd Krajeck.

(Photo by Morgan Ahart)

Toepfer has served as a prosecutor for nearly three decades and was appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District in July of 2025. Prior to his appointment Toepfer served the Northern District of Ohio for 17 years as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting federal criminal cases including: bank robberies, firearm offenses, fraud, narcotics, and export-controlled technology.

Krajeck first joined the FBI in 2004, and after completing his training worked in counterterrorism and served as a member of the SWAT Team in Rochester, Rhode Island. Since then, Krajeck has served in the Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland Divisions, and currently supervises the Cleveland Violent Crime and Crimes Against Children squads. Prior to his service in the FBI Krajeck served in the United States Army as an Army Ranger with the Second Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, deploying to Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003.

Toepfer said that during his career with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he has benefited from the collaboration and high standards of law enforcement agencies across the state. A level of cooperation which he said was rare.

“The cooperation we have among all law enforcement in this district is truly unique and special. I have had many conversations with U.S Attorneys from other parts of the country who complain about the fact that they can’t even get their federal partners to play nicely together, let alone state and local. Here, we have that with one phone call. We can get all these different agencies together to work towards a common goal,” Toepfer said.

Toepfer said that for law enforcement officers, overtime and missing moments with their families is often a given, and that “when they put on a uniform and go to work, they never really know what is going to happen.” He said that officers never know for sure “when that last call or that last assignment [will] be just that, the last one.”

The Fraternal Order of Police Quaker Lodge 88 held its annual National Peace Officer Memorial Service Thursday at the Salem Golf Club honoring the memory and service of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the preceding year. Shown are Fraternal Order of Police Quaker Lodge 88 President and retired Salem Police Department Lt. Donn Beeson, left, and Federal Bureau of Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Todd Krajeck. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

“Because of the sacrifices they’re willing to make, we can all rest easily at night,” Toepfer said.

Toepfer said that when an officer makes the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty that “it affects all of us in the community,” and that “an attack on a police officer is really an attack on all of us.” Toepfer concluded his remarks by calling on communities to remember the sacrifices that are made every day to protect their freedoms, as they gather to celebrate the United States 250th anniversary.

“As we celebrate the 250th birthday of this great nation under the banner ‘Freedom 250’ we should never forget what people put on the line, what they’re willing to put on the line. It’s the reason that we see the words of Jesus on the walls of the Ohio Fallen Officers Memorial: ‘No greater love has one than this, he that lays down his life for his friends,'” Toepfer said. “What makes the love of police officers and law enforcement officers truly unique is their willingness to lay their lives down for friends they’ve never met, and community members that have never met them. They sacrifice for the greater good and because of their sacrifices, we can live in freedom. Because of their willingness to take on dangers that most people are not willing to take on, we live in freedom.”

Krajeck said that throughout his military and law enforcement careers he has been surrounded by people “that put service over comfort, responsibility over recognition, and duty over self.” He said that mindset was exemplary of the call to serve and protect which inspires men and women around the nation to become law enforcement officers and told the officers in attendance to always hold onto that calling.

He said that when an officer makes sacrifices in the line of their duty, up to and including their lives, it can often be forgotten that they aren’t making those sacrifices alone but with the families that love them. Krajeck said that as we honor our lost officers, we must also honor the families they leave behind and the sacrifice of a loved one they have made for the greater good.

The Fraternal Order of Police Quaker Lodge 88 held its annual National Peace Officer Memorial Service Thursday at the Salem Golf Club honoring the memory and service of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the preceding year. Shown are Retired Columbiana County Sheriff’s Deputy Duane Thornton and St. Clair Township Police Department Patrolman Dakota Wetzel. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

“One of the other definitions of sacrifice that we don’t talk about enough is the sacrifice of the family members. When an officer makes the ultimate sacrifice, there’s always a spouse that’s left behind children who grow up without a mother or father, parents who lost a son or daughter,” Krajeck said. “We owe those officers more than just a ceremony, more than just a day. We owe them remembrance, we owe them gratitude, and we owe them, we owe their families, a promise that we’ll never forget.”

Krajeck said that while some officers make the ultimate sacrifice, all officers make a steadier, quieter sacrifice of their mental and emotional health. He said that sacrifice is one made day by day over the years and decades of their career, and that many of the most important decisions an officer will make in their career are the ones that will never be seen or acknowledged.

“Being responsible for other people’s safety has a cost. It weighs on you like a rucksack that you just never put down, or a vest that you can never take off. Every officer in this room knows what that’s like. … Each and every instance might not be that heavy, but over years and decades of service, it adds up,” Krajeck. “You all know what it feels like to move towards danger when other people are running away, you know what it’s like to wake up early in the morning, put on the uniform put on the vest when your mind and your body are saying no.”

Krajeck said that all too often officers feel the need to bear that weight alone and challenged the officers in attendance to check up on their partners and all fellow officers, and to ensure they know they aren’t alone. He concluded his remarks by thanking the officers and their families in attendance for the sacrifices they make every day and promised the families of officers who have been killed in the line of duty that their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

The Fraternal Order of Police Quaker Lodge 88 held its annual National Peace Officer Memorial Service Thursday at the Salem Golf Club honoring the memory and service of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the preceding year. Shown is Federal Bureau of Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Todd Krajeck. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)