Foley, retired police officer from the City of Wyandotte, serves on Michigan’s Memorial Team, called S.M.M.A.R.T. The acronym stands for Sheriff’s and Municipal Memorial Assistance Response Team. Foley is the lead instructor for honor guard training, held this week at the APlex. Officers from across the state converged at the APlex to learn the proper procedures for holding a memorial service for a fallen officer.

Foley said that around 2005, the Michigan Sheriff’s Association developed a state memorial team to serve all 83 Michigan counties. Then, in about 2011, the Michigan Chiefs of Police joined with the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

“They’re representing over 600 Michigan police departments,” Foley said of the Michigan Chiefs of Police. “The two leading agencies within the state of Michigan, representing law enforcement, have joined together and, if we have, anywhere in the state of Michigan, an officer killed in the line of duty, there’s a good possibility that if that agency needs help, they’ll reach out to the state’s memorial team, and we will come in and assist them.”

He explained how the training got started, and why it’s important.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Instructor Dan Foley talks about the importance of honor guard training, which he leads at the APlex in Alpena each year.

“This class was basically developed to assist all first responders in understanding the complexities of line-of-duty death, the formalities of funeral protocol,” Foley said. “A lot of our instructors, myself included, we’ve gone to Arlington Cemetery, we’ve trained with the U.S. Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard at Arlington that handles all of the burials.”

In addition to two trips to Arlington National Cemetery, Foley has been to Alpena to train with the Air Force base honor guard.

“A lot of our instructors have got extensive background training in ceremonial protocol and formalities at funerals,” Foley said.

Police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty are honored with memorial services involving the honor guard, Foley said.

Foley explained that the four days of practical training started Monday and finished up on Thursday in Alpena. Students practiced marching, color guard movement, ceremonious use of rifles and axes, proper use and handling of the U.S. flag, and more.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Robert Kennaley, police chief of Melvindale, talks about the recent loss of Melvindale Police Corporal Mohamed Said, a 26-year-old who was shot and killed in the line of duty on July 21, 2024.

Foley said students learn “how to handle the national color,” referring to the U.S. flag, and “how to move the national color.”

On Thursday morning, students heard loved ones of fallen officers tell their stories.

“We have survivors that are coming and discussing their separate incidents, when they’ve lost an officer, killed in the line of duty,” Foley said on Thursday morning.

Foley said the students will be able to test the skills they learned Monday through Thursday when they coordinate a funeral service to be held today.

“Friday, we will actually have a service that the students will coordinate, which will be a full honor service for an officer that was killed in the line of duty,” Foley said. “They have to execute that service to the best of their abilities, without any flaws. It’s a very heavy, very hard practical exam for them, on Friday. It’s very real.”

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Participants representing law enforcement agencies from across Michigan gathered for honor guard training this week at the APlex in Alpena. Pictured, attendees hear from family members and loved ones who have lost an officer in the line of duty.

Sixty-three students participated in this week’s honor guard training, according to Foley.

“They all come up to Alpena for an entire week of training,” he said of participants, representing agencies from all over the state, including fire departments.

One of those participants was Robert Kennaley, police chief of Melvindale. He talked about the recent loss of Melvindale Police Corporal Mohamed Said, a 26-year-old who was shot and killed in the line of duty on July 21, 2024.

“He was with the department for 14 months,” Kennaley said of Said.

Friends and colleagues called him “Mo,” Kennaley said.

“With Mo, he came to the city of Melvindale when he was 10 years old,” Kennaley said. “He moved from Yemen to Melvindale. He went through the school system. He was very big into soccer. He played soccer a lot, and won a lot of championships, so he made a lot of friends. Everybody in the city of Melvindale knows who Mo is … it’s a 2.7-square-mile community, and everybody knows everybody.”

He said Said’s family wanted his funeral to include full honors because he was so dedicated to police service.

“They know that is what he would want,” Kennaley said.

Foley talked about his interaction with Kennaley in planning the memorial service for Said.

“I called the chief,” Foley recalled of that day. “The officer hadn’t been dead for an hour. They had a huge manhunt, looking for the guy that had run from the scene. They had every federal, state, and local officer in the area searching for this guy. It took a day-and-a-half to find him. It took an extensive amount of law enforcement resources to find this guy.”

“He’s already been arraigned,” Kennaley added. “He went through the preliminary exam. So now, he’s looking at going to trial … he’s got an extensive criminal history record.”

Melvindale is located just over three miles south of Dearborn, in Wayne County.

“I was on the phone to (Police Chief Kennaley), confirmed the death, we activated the state’s memorial team, S.M.M.A.R.T.,” Foley said. “I was at his police department the very next morning, speaking to him, starting the process of planning a full honors funeral for 3,000 people.”

In addition to honor guard proceedings for Said, his Islamic religious traditions were incorporated into the memorial ceremony.

“That was the first Muslim officer we’ve had killed in the line of duty,” Foley said. “That came with a level of complexity that we had never encountered before, because of their religious traditions and rites and Muslim law.”

Kennaley said Said was a giving, generous person, and that spirit will continue even with his passing.

“He created a toy drive he started on Facebook,” Kennaley said. “Now, at our high school, I’ve got three classrooms that are full of toys. We’re looking at doing toy drives, we’re looking at honoring him.”

He said in keeping with Said’s Muslim traditions, the police department will be celebrating Eid, which occurs at the end of Ramadan.

“We’ll be passing out gifts on Eid, as well,” Kennaley said. “Eid is the celebration of giving.”

Foley noted that honor guard training is unique, and comes with challenges.

“This training is unlike any training, in my 30 years of law enforcement experience, that I’ve ever attended,” Foley said. “Even though I’m the coordinator and the host of this program, and it takes me six to seven months of working in advance before this week even approaches, this training comes with a lot of heavy baggage. It’s just the nature of the beast, so to speak. It’s abnormal to ask people to come in, unless you’re a funeral director, to work around caskets all day long and learn how to carry them properly.”

He noted that our state has been hit with many line-of-duty losses recently.

“This year, Michigan alone, we’ve suffered greatly,” Foley said. “Losing three officers in the line of duty in a matter of six or seven weeks.”

Foley said students have been both challenged and impressed by the material learned in the honor guard training course.

“I’ve had so many students come up, afterwards, and just cannot believe the quality and the level of training and what the demands are that are placed on them,” Foley said. “We take it very seriously.”

Reach Darby Hinkley at dhinkley@thealpenanews.com, or call 989-358-5691.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No