WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Jan. 25, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) ─ Erika Barney never understood why her husband made such frequent visits to an online “officer down” memorial page.
That’s what she told thousands of listeners at Doug Barney’s memorial service on Monday at the Maverik Center. Officer Barney, of the Unified Police Department, was shot and killed in the line of duty on Jan. 17 while trying to interview someone who had left the scene of an accident.
“I didn’t understand it,” Erika Barney said, of her 44-year-old husband’s interest in the memorial website. “I thought it was kind of morbid to think of fellow officers who were killed.
“I feel like I understand now,” she said. “I understand why he would look at the officer down memorial page before he would strap on a vest and go on duty. It’s because you need to accept the cost in order to be able to serve. And that commitment isn’t made once, but over and over again.”
Erika Barney said she never doubted her husband’s love for her, nor did she doubt that he considered it an honor to serve as a law enforcement officer.
“I know that he considered falling in the line of duty a great privilege he never would have been allowed to have,” Barney said. “I know this would have been a great honor to him.”
Barney talked about some of her husband’s proudest moments, like when he investigated mischief by some boys were were taken to the hospital for burn treatment. On a hunch, Doug Barney set out to visit the boy who ran home.
That child appeared to be asleep, but had injuries that were not apparent. He would have died within the hour, paramedics said, if Barney hadn’t stopped by to check on his welfare.
“I told him, ‘You saved his life,'” Erika Barney recalled. “I could just feel him smile and take that in, and he said, ‘I guess I did.'”
Erika Barney said when her husband was battling cancer, he suggested she find a job with insurance benefits in case he had to take a medical leave. He even found her an open position, as a dispatcher.
“I said I didn’t know if I could be good at that, and he said, ‘Yeah, you’re bossy, just like all dispatchers.'”
That job, and a police administrative job she took later, allowed Erika Barney to better understand her mate’s job and his willingness to sacrifice, she said. It’s something law officers have in common, she said.
“I’m proud of you, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your service,” she told the officers at the service.
Brian Barney, brother of the fallen officer, gave the eulogy. He talked about how his older brother convinced the kids in the family to do brave and crazy things, like jump from roofs.
“If you spent more than 10 minutes with Doug, you’d have stories,” he said, laughing.
Brian Barney said his brother earned respect by treating people with respect.
“No matter who it was, Doug treated people like they were people.”
Salt Lake County Sheriff James M. Winder described Doug Barney as a 6-foot-5-inch Irishman who could have walked out of central casting for “Braveheart.” Winder confessed his hatred for preparing formal speeches, and how he felt relieved when he realized he knew Barney well enough to guess what the late officer might have said were he at the podium.
“I am confident he would tell his family he loves them more than anything on this planet,” Winder said, adding that Barney must know they are suffering, and would tell them to “‘Please smile as soon as you can.'”
Barney would tell all those in law enforcement, “You are amazing,” Winder said, and would, “look out on the crowd, would flash that crooked smile, and say, ‘I love you, all of you, my brothuhs and sistuhs.”
UPD Deputy Chief Chris Bertram, also a “brothuh” to Barney, talked about how his playful friend never walked up to the office door, preferring an “electric slide” entrance before he let himself in.
“Your father lived for police work, and it was a perfect fit,” Bertram said, speaking to the Barneys’ three children, Maddie, Mary and Jack. “He had a sense of humor to help keep the pains of this profession in perspective…. He served the citizens of this state with compassion and he served them with love.”
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert spoke, reading scriptures and quotes he hoped would bring comfort. He praised Barney as a man of faith, referring to the two men’s common membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“And I know the Barney family is a family of faith, and can appreciate that in difficult times,” he said, adding that he hoped the family would be comforted by their belief in an afterlife. “This is not the end,” Herbert said.
Elder Mervyn B. Arnold, First Quorum of Seventy of the LDS Church, spoke of a preexistence and an eternal plan that would allow the family to be united again.
The two-hour funeral began at 11 a.m. After the closing song and prayer, the procession of family members, friends, community members and law enforcement officers from many states started the drive to the Orem Cemetery for a graveside service.
