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We’re not promised tomorrow.

Those who choose a career in law enforcement know that better than most. Every time they put on their uniform and report to work, they know they are risking their lives. It’s not something they often talk about, but all of them know it.

They choose to put themselves in harms way for the rest of us because they are a special group of men and women. It takes an immense amount of courage to do what they do.

Although I did not personally know Virginia Beach Police Officers Cameron Girvin and Christopher Reese, my heart ached for their family members and their law enforcement colleagues when I read a story this past Saturday morning that both had been shot and killed during what appeared to be a routine traffic stop on Friday night (Feb. 21).

Reese, age 30, and Girvin (25) had stopped a car after observing that its license plate had expired. The driver of that car – identified as 42-year-old John McCoy III – did not immediately pull over. When he did, McCoy initially refused to exit the car. When he finally did so, he got into an altercation with the two officers. He pulled a pistol and shot both of them. When they fell to the ground, McCoy shot them each a second time.

McCoy reportedly fled the scene. He was later found in a shed with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, which authorities believe was self-inflicted.

Those of us who work in the media frequently interact with law enforcement agencies. Most of that interaction involves gaining information about criminal activity, but there are times when there’s good news to report…officers saving lives; working with young people as coaches/mentors; and promotions/certifications they have earned through countless hours of training. It’s through writing those stories where people like me learn the softer side of those men and women in blue. They’re like the majority of the working world….someone who has found their calling in life and worked hard each and every day to better themselves, their families, and their profession.

The deaths of those two young Virginia Beach Police officers sadly rekindled stories this newspaper published, during my time here, when we lost a local officer.

North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Guy Thomas Davis Jr. of Bertie County was murdered Sept. 2, 1975 after stopping a vehicle in Williamston for running a red light. Unbeknownst to Davis at that time, the vehicle was occupied by three individuals who had just robbed a bank in Jamesville.

On Nov. 27, 1980, North Carolina Wildlife Officer Lloyd Mayse was shot and killed by a man after stopping a vehicle at 4 a.m. for spotlighting deer in Northampton County.

On May 14, 1985, North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Worley (stationed in Northampton County) was shot and killed on I-95 by the driver of a van who was involved in a store robbery earlier that day in Pender County.

One of the first “hard news” stories I wrote involved the tragic death of Hertford County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Futrell. On Sept. 18, 1992, Futrell became the first Hertford County Deputy Sheriff to lose his life in the line of duty. On that day he responded to a domestic call near Cofield where he was in the process of assisting a citizen take custody of a child. A man exited the house and shot and killed Deputy Futrell.

He was 36 years-old and the father of two children.

You may have just read in a recent edition of the News-Herald and the Gates County Index that the North Carolina Board of Transportation approved the naming of the bridge on U.S. 13 South over the intersection of N.C. 45 South and U.S. 158 West near Winton as the Deputy Paul Futrell Bridge. That effort was spearheaded by current Hertford County Sheriff Dexter Hayes.

We lost a great man and a great police officer on July 16, 2000 when Rich Square Police Chief was murdered after stopping a vehicle for driving off from a store without paying for gas.

It wasn’t until Nov. 13, 2019 that the Roanoke-Chowan area learned of another local officer’s death in the line of duty.

At around 11:30 p.m. on that date, Northampton Sheriff’s Deputy Makeem Brooks was heading to the Gaston area in response to a shots-fired call. Brooks lost control of his patrol vehicle on Highway 158 West near Garysburg and died in the crash.

He was only 27-years-old at the time of his death and had been employed with the Northampton Sheriff’s Office for approximately six months.

There have been two other occasions when the Roanoke-Chowan area mourned the deaths of two local law enforcement officers who died while off-duty.

Thomas Carrell Lewis, age 24, of Windsor was murdered May 1, 2004 from multiple stab wounds received during an altercation in Orange County. He was off-duty and visiting with friends in the Chapel Hill area at that time.

Lewis served as an officer with the Windsor Police Department, a deputy with the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office, and as an agent with the Roanoke-Chowan Narcotics Task Force.

The person responsible for Lewis’s murder was arrested and sentenced to prison.

On Easter Sunday 2011, Bertie County Sheriff’s Corporal Kenneth (“Kenny”) Carlton Cobb, 30, and his two-year-old son, David Robert Cobb, tragically lost their lives in a jet ski accident on the Cashie River near Windsor.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page (odmp.org), there have been 651 North Carolina law enforcement officers who have lost their lives while on duty. More than half (338) of those deaths were by gunfire.

Two Bertie County Sheriff’s deputies were killed by gunfire: Dewey L. Swain on July 5, 1968 and Calvin D. Cherry on Aug. 2, 1979. Colerain Police Chief John W. Brown died in an auto accident on Feb. 21, 1939.

Gates County Deputy Sheriff W. Vernon Eason was killed by gunfire on May 5, 1925.

The Windsor Police Department lost two of their police chiefs, both shot and killed while on duty: Mark A. Conner (Oct. 24, 1910), and Patrick H. White (Feb. 10, 1929).

We need to be grateful for all of those who take an oath to serve and protect us, and carry forth those duties without fail.

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.