By Ray King
A rolling tribute to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty made a stop in Pine Bluff Monday morning as part of an 84 day 17,000 mile trek across the country.
The tribute was in the form of a trailer which bore the name and photo of every law enforcement officer who died in 2020, including Pine Bluff Police Detective Kevin Collins, who was killed while attempting to serve a warrant Oct. 5.
Among those who turned out to see the trailer was Dornetta Hobbs, the mother of Kevin Collins who talked about it with Deltaplex News.
J.C. Shah, a retired Central Washington state police officer and chairman of Beyond the Call, led six motorcycle riders, also retired officers, who will visit 194 police departments where a total of 339 officers have died.
Shah told Deltaplex News why the group does what they call the End of Watch rides.
Law enforcement officers,
members of the community, and prosecutors were on hand to look at the pictures on the trailer and talk to the riders. Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter, who rode his motorcycle to the mall and planned to ride with the group for a while, was asked what their presence and message meant for the community and police department.
