The sculpture entitled 'Officer Down' is a life-size sculpture crafted out of bronze and granite. Artist Larry Bechtel from Blacksburg, created this piece to honor our fallen officers as it depicts a fallen police officer. "Officer Down" is located outside the entrance of the Police Building at 348 Campbell Ave., S.W., and was unveiled on May 14th, 2004 during National Police Memorial Week.
Before the new police department was built in its current location, the police officials knew that they wanted a sculpture to memorialize officers killed in the line of duty. From this, the department created a committee of employees to pursue this idea and with the help of the Roanoke Arts Commission, the department put out a call for artists’ ideas in September 2001. Many artists responded to the call, but Lawrence Reid Bechtel stood out to the committee. “He took photos of the site at different times of the day, asked to ride along with officers and even asked to wear an officer’s belt so he could feel the weight of the equipment on his own hips,” said Capt. Bill Althoff, who was on the committee. The artist also had the Roanoke police model for the sculpture as well. "Officer Down" is located outside the entrance of the Police Building at 348 Campbell Ave., S.W., and was unveiled on May 14th, 2004 during National Police Memorial Week. The statue commemorates 15 city police officers who have been killed in the line of duty since 1892. “I hope that as the officers come and go from the building that they’ll see the strength in this piece,” said Capt. Bill Althoff.
About the artist:
Lawrence Reid Bechtel is an artist from Blacksburg, VA. Originally from Wheaton, IL, Bechtel had been working with his hands through various projects involving wood and clay since he was young. In 1980, he moved to Southwest Virginia and taught full-time at Virginia Tech in 1985 as an English teacher. It wasn’t until around 1990 that he started taking up figurative sculpture and secured significant public commissions, several of which can be found in Roanoke. Bechtel is now one of the most celebrated male sculpture artists in the region. As stated on his site, “sculpture is my portal. As I shape, I see. The clay becomes me.” Check out his website at bechtelsculpture.com
Sourced from:
Information was obtained from documents by the Arts Council of the Roanoke Valley.
