MANTORVILLE, Minn. 鈥� When Winona Police Officer Mathew Hamilton was killed in December 1874, the internet and podcasts were not even found in a fever dream. But now, nearly 150 years after his death, his story is being shared across the country and even world as part of the Officer Down Memorial Podcast.
The podcast, made by current Dodge County Sheriff and former radio broadcaster Scott Rose, tells the stories of the men and women who lost their lives serving in law enforcement.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hamilton collapsed following a fight with a drunk man at a railroad depot. He was carried onto a stagecoach life vehicle and brought home where he died. An autopsy determined he had heart disease sufficient enough to cause his death and that it was aggravated by overexertion during the fight.
His story was the first law enforcement member's story shared for the podcast.
Rose, who serves on two boards of organizations that honor fallen law enforcement members, said part of the motivation to start the podcast was to move beyond the two or three sentences normally provided on memorial websites.
"To me, the stories really emphasize the point that the majority of cops are great people. These are ordinary people that are willing to take extraordinary risks to help keep our communities safe, our families safe," Rose said. "I think we lose sight of that when we hear all the anti-law enforcement noise and all of the politics. We lose sight of the fact that these are truly great people that are willing to take a lot of risks for, in many cases, people they don't even know."
About a dozen episodes are now available. They tell the stories of people such as Claremont Police Chief Greg Lange, Hayfield City Marshal Ole Havey and Omaha policeman Thomas Welch. The stories are from the recent past as well as centuries long gone.
Rose starts each podcast by setting the scene and familiarizing listeners with the era before introducing the officer as a person.
"It kind of puts you in the position where you kind of get to feel what that survivor family felt," Rose said. "We spent time letting you get to the know the officer, the agency and the area and then we take him."
ADVERTISEMENT
Rose said survivor families have found the experience of sharing their family's story cathartic. For some, talking about their dead loved one was taboo.
"They鈥檝e found comfort in the fact that the real story, the whole story, is finally being told," Rose said.
A new episode of the podcast is typically published every other Friday. In May, however, an episode will be published for the first three Fridays of the month to mark Police Week. The podcast is available on all podcast platforms or at .
Listen:
