Urbandale Remembers Officer Justin Martin One Year Later

URBANDALE, IA — A year after the death of the only Urbandale police officer ever to be killed in the line of duty, the community came together to remember the life of Justin Martin. With his family in attendance and representatives of several metro-area police departments showing their support, speakers at this morning's memorial service talked of the ongoing healing process and remembering Martin for how he lived, and not how he died.

Mayor Bob Andeweg recalled the numbness he felt the morning he learned of the death of Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio, who were ambushed separately, only blocks apart, by a gunman who attacked them in their vehicles. Andeweg said he received an early morning call with the news and he got in his car and drove around, unsure of what to do. Later, he said he talked to Martin's mother, Jane, but even today he isn't sure who comforted whom the most on that morning.

"What really came to me at that moment was the words I heard Chief McCarty repeat over and over: 'It's not how these officers died that made them heroes. It's how they lived,'" Andeweg said. "Those words are etched in stone at the National Peace Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., where Justin's name is permanently etched on the wall. And if any of us can make sense from the senseless, it's to remember those words."

Andeweg has a photo in his office from January 2016 when he performed the swearing-in ceremony for Martin, officially making him an Urbandale police officer. He said it's the first thing he sees every day and it serves as a reminder for him to do his best in everything he does.

"I focus on the determination of Justin's face as he looks at me as he's taking the oath of office," Andeweg said. "That determination was how Justin lived his life. Everything that Justin did, he gave his very best. He pushed through, even to the very end."

Police Chief Ross McCarty said the outpouring of support from the community that began on the day of that tragedy has carried forward into this year. He thanked residents, businesses, neighboring communities and those far away for reaching out to the department and said it has strengthened the Urbandale police as they carry out their daily duties.

It is his hope, McCarty said, that "long after each of us have finished our tour of duty at this police department, the name of Officer Justin Martin would remain embedded into the history of the department and into the community."

McCarty noted that there have been five community projects that will serve as those historical reminders while honoring Martin's service to the community:

• The north drive into the department has been named Martin Drive. "This will serve as a daily reminder to our patrol personnel to stay safe throughout their tour of duty and the cost of doing that: Service for the community," he said.
• The Urbandale Library Board named a reading room in his honor. "The plaque outside the room honors Justin's commitment to higher education, instilled through his parents, Randy and Jane, and their long-term commitment as Iowa educators."
• The recreational field west of the the police department was named Martin Playing Fields "and are an appropriate reminder of Justin's own history of excelling in athletics."
• The mayor's effort to personally honor Martin turned into the "Run for the Badge" fundraiser that "swelled to 150 officers and community members showing up on a cold, wet, rainy day to honor Justin's memory" and is expected to become an annual event each October.
• The sculpture "Vigilance," an eagle in flight, was recently placed in front of the flagpoles outside the police department and fundraising for a separate plaque has been completed. It is a memorial "that not only honors Justin, but every police officer that has served this department and those officers that will fill the thin blue line as police officers leave their service," McCarty said.

The ceremony included a flag-raising by the Urbandale Police Honor Guard, which then lowered flags to half staff, and comments by department chaplain Dick Dayton. The police department also recognized the anniversary by bathing the building in bright blue LED lights overnight, just as the Des Moines Police Department did there in remembrance of Sgt. Anthony Beminio.

"The reason we're here today and the reason we'll be here a year from now and five years from now, is not to replay that tragedy from Nov. 2, 2016," Andeweg said. "Rather, it's to honor Justin by remembering all that he represented, and how it's our duty moving forward to live out the principles of how he lived."

Patch photos by Melissa Myers