[simage=7463,200,y,left] On average, 164 peace officers die every year in the line of duty, and almost 16,000 are injured. That’s why Knoxville Police Chief Dan Losada says it’s important to remember the dangers all officers face during Peace Officier Memorial Day on Tuesday. Losada says that he’s served in four different cities across three states, and that many dangers are constant throughout. He adds 157 Iowa law enforcement officers have fallen in the line of duty in the history of the state. Deputy Harold Gates with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department lost his life in the line of duty in when shot in Pella in 1967. In 2008, Virgil Behrens with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office was killed in a vehicle accident on the way to training in Des Moines.

72 Officers in the United States were killed in the line of duty last year. An officer from Pella, John Ernest Van Haaften, was killed on duty in Knoxville in April of 1980. Van Haaften was working as an Undercover Narcotics Officer and was shot while assisting other officers during a drug raid. He was 25 years old. KNIA/KRLS thanks the officers in our local departments, and across the state, for their service.