SHERIDAN — Local police are in the early stages of planning a memorial service for Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, who died downtown along 5th Street on Tuesday while trying to serve a trespass notice to a suspect who shot and killed him.
The mood has been somber and tough at the Sheridan Police Department where Krinkee worked.
A police cruiser he drove — No. 107 — is parked in front of the department’s offices along Main Street with a fresh coat of snow burying hundreds of flowers, messages and heart-shaped balloons.
Now comes another emotional challenge for the police force.
On Thursday, a mental health professional was working with officers, dispatchers and others on coping with the loss of their fallen teammate and community hero.
In the lobby, bouquets of flowers are showing up beneath the window where the public comes to request to speak with an officer.
The parked vehicle of a slain officer parked out front of a station is a tradition in the law enforcement community, said Sheridan Police Capt. Tom Ringley.
Police Chief Travis Koliska requested that the vehicle be parked there.
A funeral service for Sgt. Krinkee has been set for 1 p.m. March 1 at the Bruce Hoffman Golden Dome on the Sheridan College campus.
A Symbol Of Service
Messages that have been left on Krinkee’s vehicle range from “Thank you” and “R.I.P. Sergeant Nevada Krinkee Hero” to “May God Behold You Sgt. Krinkee” and “In Loving Memory of a Hero.”
“We’re an extremely tightknit family and support each other,” Ringley said. “Obviously, we are all grieving because our brother Nevada is no longer here, and now we are focused on supporting his family.”
At the moment, the department is helping Krinkee’s family with insurance benefits during a difficult time, and giving them spiritual and emotional support.
Ringley said that his department is in the very early stages of memorial planning. Nothing has been decided on where and when he’ll be buried.
“Right now, we envision a 21-gun salute and a last call on the dispatch radio,” he said.
The salute is a military tradition that is an international standard.
End Of Watch
The end of watch call, or last radio call, is a ceremony in which, after a police officer’s death in the line of duty, officers from the department gather around a police radio.
The police dispatcher issues one final call to the officer, followed by silence, then a second call, followed by silence.
Sometimes the dispatcher will mention the officer's honors and may add other words in memoriam.
Since Krinkee also served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an airborne infantry division specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas, there may be other planning involved with his burial ceremony, Ringley said.
“I hate that there is no cause and organization to display the generosity we have for him,” he said.
The department also has been inundated with messages of condolences.
“I haven’t respond to everyone, but will in the future,” Ringley said.
On Tuesday, Krinkee died in front of a home at 58 5th St. when William Lowery, 46, reportedly shot Krinkee to death, then fled the scene. The suspect later barricaded himself in a house owned by a Sheridan woman near the corner of 7th Avenue and North Sheridan Street. Lowrey died at the scene 32 hours later after a prolonged standoff. Police shot and killed him when he attempted to flee the scene.
Lowery reportedly shot Krinkee while he was trying to serve a trespass notice Tuesday morning at the rental house from which Lowery had been evicted one day earlier by a judge’s order.
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Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
