Retired Gainesville police officer Chad White, who has spent his retirement years researching the men and women who have served and sacrificed for public safety agencies in Hall County, has done it again, recently bringing to light the story of Hall County Constable Willliam Harris.
Harris was forgotten for generations, but thanks to White, the county’s unofficial law enforcement historian, and his team of volunteers, his name is now engraved on both the Georgia Public Safety Memorial Wall at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) in Forsyth and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall in Washington.
Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch assisted with the process by signing the necessary paperwork enabling Harris’s name to be added to both memorials.
“He lost his life while on duty 190 years ago, becoming the first law enforcement officer in Hall County to have made the ultimate sacrifice,” White noted in a social media post last fall on the day he and other retired officers were placing a marker at Harris’s grave in Murrayville.
The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) tells us Constable Harris was stabbed as he was trying to arrest a forgery suspect. He died as the result of his wounds.
Follow this link to see additional photos from the GPSTC ceremony: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpstc/albums/72177720324807054/