DETROIT (WXYZ) — When an officer is killed in the line of duty, no matter where it happens, law enforcement officers at the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office say it hits close to home.
“It’s never easy. The amount that it takes from you is more than you can describe,” Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Reid Chakrabarty said.
In his 25 years with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Chakrabarty says he’s experienced a lot of loss, with colleagues killed in the line of duty.
To meet the needs of surviving families and co-workers, the sheriff’s office has partnered with Wayne State University for the past year for grief counseling free of charge.
Chakrabarty is also captain of the Honor Guard. He was stunned to learn of the killing of Detroit Police Department Officer Loren Courts.
“The first contact I had with DPD was with the head of their Honor Guard. We’ll work closely together and provide them whatever support, be it manpower, material, food, logistics of moving family around, we’ll do anything like that,” Chakrabarty said.
Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington says Courts’ father, Larry, has been a mentor to him and is someone he’s known for years.
“I had to go to Sinai Hospital, Sinai-Grace immediately to see about my brother,” Washington said.
He says he visited with Courts’ family after the shooting.
“I got a chance to spend a couple hours until about 2:30 in the morning or so with [Larry] and his family, just talking about life and things and he was in a good place,” Washington said. “But I know that's a temporary place. He’s going to have some difficult days ahead, and we’re going to be there for him.”
Washington also spoke with the family about managing their grief.
“I told him you simply never have to get over that. Obviously, we never want to bury our children to start with and I told him and his wife, ‘You never have to get over it. You know, we just have to get to a place where we can manage it,” Washington said.
If you would like to donate to Courts' family to help with raising his kids, visit their GoFundMe page.
