Will County honors fallen law enforcement officers at memorial

Police, local residents and families of those killed on the job joined a ceremony in Joliet on Thursday to pay honor to law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

The annual Law Enforcement Memorial Day included moments of reflection for families who came to the ceremony for their loved ones.

“It means everything to me,” said Karin Kendzora, a former Will County Sheriff’s deputy whose son, Raymont Topolewski, also was a deputy when he died from injuries sustained when hit by a car while investigating a rape case in 1985.

“He was hit by a drunk driver on Patterson Road (in Joliet Township) while he was investigating a rape case,” Kendzora said.

[ PHOTOS: Will County police officers honored at annual memorial event ]

The potential dangers of police work was a repeated theme of the ceremony held on the site of the former Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet.

Mokena Police Chief Ben Benton, formerly chief in Joliet, said the ceremony was special this year in part because of the opportunity to honor Illinois State Police Trooper Clay Carns.

Carns was hit by a vehicle on Dec. 23 while clearing a section of Interstate 55 near Channahon of debris from a previous accident.

He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in communications and joined the Illinois State Police with a desire to serve others, said his father, Dan Carns, who attended the ceremony.

“His older sister was a state trooper,” Carns said. “His older brother was in the Navy. He felt he needed to do something to help people.”

His death reflects the many hazards faced by those who enter a career in law enforcement.

Louis Barney, a Joliet police officer driving a motorcycle for traffic enforcement for a Fourth of July celebration in 1954, was killed in a traffic accident that day.

Barney’s great-grandchildren carried a wreath honoring fallen police officers at the ceremony on Thursday.

“We never met him,” said Annie Billinger, a senior at Plainfield South High School who was among the great-grandchildren who presented the wreath.

Billinger said her family has kept Barney’s memory alive.

“He was a very good guy,” she said. “He died in the line of duty.”

Death in the line of duty was a repeated theme at the ceremony.

The ceremony is organized by the Police Chiefs Association of Will County.

Rockdale Police Chief Robert Dykstra, the master of ceremonies, said the event is held each year “for no other reason than that is the right thing to do.”

Dykstra said police officers face increasing dangers to the point that “even just sitting in a patrol car in a parking lot” has made them a target.

“The family and friends of our fallen officers can see clearly that we will never forget,” Dykstra said. “We come together each year to tell stories and to make sure that they are given the respect and the remembrance that they deserve.”