Police Honor Officer Killed in NH

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Exeter, N.H.) - Officers from across New England turned out to remember one of their own.

Stephen Arkell was gunned down responding to a domestic disturbance last week in Brentwood, New Hampshire. Police paid their respects Tuesday at Exeter High School.

“It’s a hole in your heart that can never be fixed," said retired Los Angeles Police Officer John Burtis.

Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis added, "I didn’t know him personally, but yet, I knew him, because he was one of us.”

The loss of Arkell still seems surreal to many in law enforcement. Instead of coaching an Exeter High School lacrosse game, preparing for his daughter’s graduation or spending a day patrolling the town he called home, Officer Arkell was being honored in his flag-draped casket, his family comforted by a long line of law enforcement offering condolences.

“It’s important because we’re all united,” said Burtis, who now lives in Derry. “we’re all in the same family. No matter who we are, no matter what we are, we wear blue.”

“It’s a very difficult job and this could happen to any one of us at any time,” said High Sheriff of Rockingham County Michael Downing. “I think it’s important that the families know that there’s a support structure out there and they’re not going to be alone.”

A loss like this is not new to New Hampshire. It was just two years ago that Greenland’s police chief, Michael Maloney, was killed in a similar situation.

“It’s very hard to cope with it, Chief Maloney was a very good friend of mine,” said Kensington Police Chief Michael Sielicki, President of the New Hampshire Chiefs Association. “Officer Arkell I didn’t know personally but he’s a brother and we will respect him just like we did Chief Maloney.”

The officers who spoke to NECN Tuesday say it’s that daily risk that gives them such a unique bond and compels them to honor their fallen brothers.

“It’s something that we all know is a risk in this business but you go to work not knowing about it because you’re trained, you’re equipped properly,” said Massachusetts State Police Colonel Timothy Alben.

“In making a difference he paid the ultimate sacrifice and for us here today this is such a small sacrifice on our part for the sacrifice that he made for everyone,” said Lewis.

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