Funeral of Security Officer Joshua Sanders
On January 6, 2012, Security Officer Joshua Sanders was laid to rest in Houston Texas with full honors. I felt it was important to let our membership and the security community in general know a few details of the funeral.
40 plus uniformed security officers representing at least 13 different security companies were in attendance. This number does not take into account the large number of owners, managers, and other plainclothes personnel from various security companies that came to pay their respects. Members coming from all across the state were in attendance including members from 4 of the 6 ASSIST regions and 6 state board members. Three law enforcement agencies, Dallas Police Department, Harris County Sheriff's Office, and Harris County Constables Office sent representatives. At least 25 marked security vehicles made the precession from the funeral home to the cemetery.
Numbers were impressive but actions stole the day. Before the viewing and during the ceremony, pairs of two uniformed security officers stood guard over the casket in 15 minute intervals while the remainder of the officers stood shoulder to shoulder literally lining the remaining three walls of the room. A full police escort stopping traffic all along the route until every last vehicle made it past their post and the security company vehicles with their lights on made for an impressive show. At the cemetery, the honors were complete with the playing of taps, a 21 gun salute and the folding and presentation of the United States Flag to officer Sanders' mother. Coming from the law enforcement world, I have unfortunately seen a number of these. If you were to have seen this firsthand, I am positive you would have been as impressed and proud as I am to be in the security profession and in the actions of OUR security officer's that participated. Well done!!!
Thank you to all the companies that were present; Top Gun, State Tactical, Heartland, Verified Response, Smith Protective, Sentry Security, Security Professionals of Texas, Weiser, Professional Guard and Patrol, Custom Patrol, IPC, Reynolds Security and AS&I. There may have been others, sorry if I missed you. A thank you goes to the Gulf Coast Region and especially, Ruben Amaya, Susan Griswold, Mike Hudson, and two companies Top Gun (Jeff Moore) and State Tactical (Robert Marquez) for sending so many officers and cars. A special thank you to the North Texas Region specifically, Verified Response, Heartland Security and AS&I. Brandon with Verified Response and the Dallas Police Department did an outstanding job preparing the Honor Guard for services with such little time. And finally, an extra special THANK YOU to Mike McGregor for all the hard work and coordination in helping plan this tribute to a fallen Texas Hero, Officer Sanders. It is truly a labor of love for Mike and we are all very appreciative.
Alan Trevino, ASSIST President