“I have never heard a single person ever — whether in the criminal justice community or the criminal community — ever have a bad word to say about Matt Yates,” Shultz said.
The annual ceremony, which was put on hold from 2020 until this year due to COVID-19, started at 11 a.m. at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in London with a flute tribute before the families of the lost officers were escorted in. A procession marched by, including bagpipe-players and drummers from law enforcement agencies all over the state.
A memorial wreath was hung below the eternal flame and a woman sang the National Anthem before a reverend led the attendees in prayer.
The 41-year-old Yates is remembered as a gentle giant by his law enforcement colleagues.
Yates was killed inside a trailer at the Harmony Estates as he responded to a report of a shooting. Investigators later determined that Cole White, 27, shot and killed his mother, Jodie Arbuckle, 47, and then Yates as deputies entered the trailer. Arbuckle went to the trailer to check on her son, who had mental health issues.
White engaged in a standoff with law enforcement for hours before teams could remove Yates’ body. The trailer erupted in flames shortly after.
Yates had a stock phrase, Shultz said: “You good?”
“We are good, even though we miss him and we’re going to continue to miss him,” Shultz said. “We’re going to keep going.”
The names of six Dayton police officers who died more than 100 years ago of the Spanish Influenza, a deputy who was shot while serving a warrant in 1945 and eight law enforcement officers from all over the state who died between 2020 and 2022 were also carved in stone on the “Circle of Heroes.”
Shultz said the weather has worn down many of the names on the wall, which will be replaced with a sturdier granite this summer.
Cuyahoga Community College Police Chief Clayton Harris said during the ceremony that there are few professions besides police work in which a person goes to work every day “knowing that you might need to put your life on the line to protect and save others.” He said the job requires a “special” type of individual.
“Being a peace officer is hard work,” Harris said. “It is equally hard — perhaps harder — to be an officer’s parent, spouse, child, friend or loved one.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said during the ceremony that the purpose of the memorial wall is to ensure the officers who died in the line of duty will not be forgotten.
“The promise that we make to fallen officers — to keep their memories alive — is not only for them,” Yost said. “We do it for the officers and deputies who stand and serve now. “We do this so that all of them know how much we value them, and their mission and their courage.”
Shultz said the ceremony each year brings up strong emotions and is a great way to pay tribute to fellow members of the law enforcement families who died. He said Yates’ name was added to the Washington, D.C., national memorial wall, and some members of the sheriff’s office will carry out honor guard duties there next weekend.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
“It didn’t matter if you had been in law enforcement for 10 minutes or 10 years or 10 decades; we were all brothers to Matt and Matt was a brother to all of us,” Shultz said.
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