Retired and current law enforcement officers, as well as local government officials, joined the family of former Newark Police Chief Edward Lawton for a Badge of Honor ceremony dedicated to him on Monday (4/25) at the Newark and Arcadia courthouse.
Lawton, the late Newark Police Department chief, died of a heart attack while on duty on May 11, 1965. Lawton’s only surviving daughter, 87-year-old Dorothy Lawton Rossi, traveled from Florida and was joined by 35 members of her extended family for the celebration.
The ceremony began with an emotional invocation by retired Newark PD Sergeant Daniel Stevens, who drove Lawton to the hospital when he suffered the heart attack.
“He is looking down from above and can’t believe the honor we are giving him,” Stevens said as his voice cracked with emotion. “The man I knew was very humble and kind but also very deserving of this honor.”
Newark Police Officer Randy Kuhn was the one who researched Lawton’s life and brought his death to the attention of the Badge of Honor Association.
According to Kuhn, Lawton began his law enforcement career as a patrolman with the Newark PD in 1942. He rose through the ranks and was promoted to sergeant in 1953 and then to chief in 1956. Lawton held the position of chief until his untimely death.
On the morning of May 10, 1965, Lawton went into work, and at approximately 9:30 a.m. he began complaining of severe chest pains and subsequently collapsed. Stevens rushed him to Newark-Wayne Community Hospital, where he clung to life for 21 hours before dying on May 11.
Rochester Police Sergeant Justin Collins was there representing the Badge of Honor Association, which he started nine years ago. The association honors police officers across the state who died while on duty by dedicating signs in their memory, which they place where the officer lost his or her life.
Simmons said that, when he started his career 12 years ago, he saw the brotherhood of the police department but felt it wasn’t strong enough, so that’s why he started the Badge of Honor Association.
“When we started nine years ago, the brotherhood and sisterhood was needed,” Simmons said. “But now more than ever – the way law enforcement is under attack – this is needed.”
Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts spoke about Lawton’s role in helping to establish the Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Association, which represents law enforcement agencies in Wayne, Seneca, Ontario, Yates and Livingston counties. Lawton was one of the original organizers of the association, and he traveled to-and-from Washington D.C. to meet with F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover.
“Chief Lawton believed strongly in education, the important role of in-service training and law enforcement professionalism,” Virts noted. “Today, the men and women of the Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Association benefit from the professional training established from the good, hard work that Chief Lawton and his peers did in establishing the Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Association 60 years ago.”
Following the unveiling of Lawton’s Badge of Honor sign, his daughter placed a single rose in front of his portrait and Lawton’s niece-in-law, Sheri Schinsing, spoke about the type of father he was.
Schinsing said that Lawton used to call upon the community to help him keep tabs on his three daughters. She said that Lawton also felt that – even though he was their father – the law should still apply to his daughters, and he wasn’t happy when he found out that the other officers weren’t issuing one of them any tickets for parking in a “no parking” zone.
“He had a meeting and told his officers not to let her slide again, and if he found that any of them did not give her a ticket for parking illegally, they would be fired,” Schinsing said. “From then on, she received several parking tickets and was not happy about it.”
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