On April 9, 1963, at approximately 4:00 PM, Deputy Benard was an off-duty jailer enroute to his home when he encountered two armed robbery suspects fleeing in a vehicle from the Sun Loan Company located in the Golden Gate Shopping Center in Bartow.

Deputy Benard followed the suspects who were headed towards State Road 60, eastbound from Bartow. Deputy Benard was confronted by a passenger in the suspect vehicle who had exited his vehicle in the vicinity of Lake Garfield. Deputy Benard was shot to death by the armed suspect on Lake Garfield Road, south of State Road 60.

Deputy Benard was 51 years of age at the time of his death.

On May 26, 1967, Deputy Powell was enroute to his duty station. At approximately 3:14 PM, his vehicle was struck by a train on South Crystal Lake Drive, east of U.S. Highway 98 South, in Lakeland. Deputy Powell died at the scene as a result of the injuries sustained during the crash.

Deputy Powell was 26 years of age at the time of his death.

On March 13, 1974, Detective Rabun was responding to conduct a follow up investigation in an area southeast of Winter Haven.

At approximately 1:20 PM, his vehicle was struck by a train at the railroad crossing, located on Hoover Road, north of State Road 655, in Eloise. Deputy Rabun died at the scene as the result of injuries sustained during the crash.

Deputy Rabun was 26 years old at the time of his death.

On January 9, 1981, Deputy Burnham responded to an area off Dranefield Road, in the vicinity of Lakeland Regional Airport. Deputy Burnham was attempting to locate a suspect involved in a reported abduction.

Unknown to authorities at the time, the suspect had shot and killed two individuals earlier. At approximately 4:20 PM, Deputy Burnham encountered the suspect walking on Dranefield Road, west of Airport Road.

Subsequently, a struggle ensued between Deputy Burnham and the suspect. Deputy Burnham was shot and killed with his service revolver by the suspect.

Deputy Burnham was 27 years old at the time of his death.

On May 29, 1986, at approximately 10:45 PM, Deputy Allen, acting in an undercover capacity, with several other Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies and officers from the Winter Haven Police Department, executed a search warrant on a rooming house in Winter Haven, where suspected illicit drug dealing was occurring.

Upon entering the rooming house, Deputy Allen was accidentally shot by another officer. Deputy Allen died ten (10) months later, on March 15, 1987, from heart failure attributed to the gunshot wound he received on May 29, 1986.

Deputy Allen was 39 years old at the time of his death.

On February 2, 1989, at approximately 5:15 AM, while on routine patrol, Deputy Goddard was involved in a traffic crash during which his patrol vehicle impacted the rear of a truck on Airport Road, southwest of Lakeland. Deputy Goddard died at the scene as a result of the injuries sustained during the crash.

Deputy Goddard was 34 years old at the time of his death.

Deputy Sheriff Flight Officer Larry Rhoden

October 22, 2001

Deputy Sheriff Flight Officer Larry Rhoden, 33, of Ft. Meade, and Deputy Sheriff Pilot Brian Wilkinson, 33, of Lake Alfred, were killed when their Sheriff's Office helicopter - a 1971 OH58 Bell Jet Ranger - crashed into a pond/pasture near Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road in Bartow (near Lake Hancock) shortly after 1 a.m. on October 22, 2001.

Rhoden was hired in 1991, and joined the Aviation Unit in January of 2001.

Deputy Sheriff Pilot Brian Wilkinson

October 22, 2001

Deputy Sheriff Pilot Brian Wilkinson, 33, of Lake Alfred, and Deputy Sheriff Flight Officer Larry Rhoden, 33, of Ft. Meade, were killed when their Sheriff's Office helicopter - a 1971 OH58 Bell Jet Ranger - crashed into a pond/pasture near Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road in Bartow (near Lake Hancock) shortly after 1 a.m. on October 22, 2001.

Wilkinson began his career at the Sheriff's Office in 1994. He joined the Aviation Unit in March of 2001.

Deputy Sheriff Vernon "Matt" Williams & K-9 Diogi

September 28, 2006

Deputy Sheriff Vernon "Matt" Williams, 12-year veteran of the agency, K-9 handler  and his canine partner, German shepherd Diogi. They were both shot and killed in the line of duty on Thursday, September 28, 2006.

Tribute to an Officer
by Willie Taylor

It started out as a tour of duty with a routine trend,
With no clue at all that it held a tragic end.
Over the radio the coded call came,
An officer is down, no mention of a name.
We look at each other with shock and fear
Afraid of the next words that we might hear.
The day suddenly becomes a dark somber grey
We just learned an officer has died on this day.
The flags are dropped to half-mast
Eyes are filled with tears and all faces are down-cast
Badges and ID's are trimmed in black
But none of this will bring our friend back.
Alert messages are sent to law enforcement agencies far and wide
To let them know a family member had died.
They will come from everywhere to pay their respect in kind
To the family and loved ones the officer has left behind.
Tomorrow we will try to go about a normal day
For we know the officer would want it that way.
They know how much we truly care
And that our grief is so hard to bear.
That time alone will erase the pain
And the memories in our hearts will always remain.