Yesterday, with much fanfare, the late Board of Water Supply police officer John J. Quinlan was added to the State of New York Police Officers Memorial in Albany (and also the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.) He is the "first officer responsible for protecting New York City’s water supply to ever be honored" in the memorial, according to a press release from the New York Department of Environmental Protection. From DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway's statement about Quinlan:
His patrol duties followed the rapid expansion of the City’s water supply at the time, stretching from Yonkers all the way to Neversink and Grahamsville. During his tenure, he responded to threats of trespassing and sabotage; investigated worker fatalities at critical water infrastructure construction projects; and trained new recruits. He even once responded to a fellow officer involved in a serious motorcycle accident and provided an emergency blood transfusion to aid in his recovery.
Quinlan died in a car accident in Fallsburg while patrolling the reservoirs in 1953. according to his Officer Down Memorial Page, which was updated today.
He isn't the only officer with upstate roots to be honored: according to the Troy Record, Trooper David Lane, who was killed last fall in Catskill, was also honored yesterday.
