Paul Goode (left), area field director for U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, watches as Lt. Trey Clanton, Capt. Randy Adams and Lt. Richard Blanton of Shelbyville Police Department prepare to raise a flag Tuesday in honor of fallen officers during National Police Week. Goode presented a proclamation to Chief Austin Swing in honor of the department. (T-G Photo by David Melson) [Order this photo]

"You can't take anything for granted," Chief Austin Swing noted, pointing out prisoners who seem totally trustworthy are capable of suddenly becoming violent.

The flag, along with the American flag, was hoisted to half-mast by Lt. Trey Clanton, Capt. Randy Adams and Lt. Richard Blanton as Paul Goode, a field representative for Sen. Bob Corker, watched outside police headquarters.

Goode presented a proclamation honoring all officers to Swing near a granite memorial to six Shelbyville officers who have died on duty.

They are Officers Charles A. Henry and Redden G. Purdie, whom Swing said were ambushed in 1911 while walking a beat on Depot Street; Chief Sumner A. Dillard, shot in the head as he transported a prisoner to jail in 1936; Officer Floyd T. Collins, who suffered a heart attack in 1985 while on routine patrol; Sgt. G.J. Jordan, killed in a traffic accident in 1995 while responding to an emergency call; and Officer Melvin Claxton, victim of a heart attack while chasing an escaped prisoner on foot in 1999.

Swing said Claxton, a former high-ranking officer, had returned to duty after several years away from law enforcement.

A factsheet issued by Corker's office highlighted the risks to the over 900,000 sworn officers in the United States. An officer is killed every 53 hours and a state-by-state breakdown ranks Tennessee 15th in the nation, according to the sheet. Over 18,200 names are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., and 181 officers were killed in the line of duty in 2007.