Flags Placed at Half-staff in Utah for Master Officer Joseph Shinners
John Hartvigsen
Provo City Police Department
With our national headquarters located in Sandy, Utah, we were saddened by the death of a valiant area police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Unfortunately, this is not rare in our nation but for us is a close to home reminder of the dangers encountered by law enforcement officers as they protect the public.
Flags in Utah will fly at half-staff on Saturday, the 12th of January 2019 as Provo City Police Department Master Officer Joseph Shinners is laid to rest. Utah County residents and Utahns living throughout the state were stunned last Saturday when Officer Shinners was killed in an exchange of gun fire as he apprehended a fugitive.
Joseph Shinners’s flag draped casket and flags flying at half-staff will bring some comfort to his bereaved widow, son and family in realizing that his service and sacrifice are known and valued. The Shinners family does not grieve alone.
the street with flags as the hearse carrying his body to the mortuary passed.
Utahns look forward to the Annual Utah Healing Field® posting of more than 3,000 flags each September on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Not as well-known is that a field of a few hundred flags will also be posted to remember and honor Utah’s military, police officers, firefighters and who have died in the line of duty since 2001. This coming September a flag will fly honoring Master Officer Joseph Shinners’s service and sacrifice.
We at Colonial Flag Foundation mourn the loss of this true hero and send our condolences to his family.