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Officers to be commemorated

Ceremonies in Madison and Beloit will commemorate police officers who have died in the line of duty and serve as a reminder of the dangers faced daily by law enforcement.

Friday in Madison, the 18th annual Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony will be at noon on the Capitol grounds. Three Wisconsin law enforcement officers will be added to the memorial during the ceremony. They are:

-- Police officer Jackie Ryden of the Prescott Police Department who died while directing traffic at a house fire on Sept. 2, 2006.

-- Deputy Steven Hahn of the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office killed while directing traffic at an automobile accident on Jan. 5, 2008.

-- Deputy Frank Fabiano Jr. of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office who was shot and killed during a traffic stop on May 16, 2007.

Speakers will include Gov. James E. Doyle and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.

Fabiano also will be honored in a ceremony at 8 a.m. Monday at the Eclipse Center, the former Beloit Mall at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Henry Avenue.

The Beloit ceremony also will commemorate one of the city’s own: Peter Larsen.

Larsen, an officer with the Beloit Police Department, was critically wounded Jan. 4, 1985, when he responded to an armed abduction call in Beloit. He remained comatose for almost 14 years before he died Nov. 15, 1998.

Keynote speaker for the Beloit event will be David Beth, sheriff of Kenosha County since 2002.

Since 1844, more than 245 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in Wisconsin.