Snellville city council member posts yard sign to honor fallen peace officers

SNELLVILLE, Ga. - A Snellville City Council member has taken a very public stand in supporting the men and women of law enforcement.

Bobby Howard placed a sign in his front yard at his home which he activates every time a peace officer is killed in the line of duty.

"It says when these lights are on it means another member of the law enforcement community has lost their life in the line of duty," said Council member Howard.

The sign with blue and red lettering against a white backdrop posted on a couple of two by fours in his front yard has a couple of blue lights on top.

The sign he says is an homage to the sacrifices made by law enforcement, especially when an officer is lost in the line of duty.

"We appreciate what you have done putting these lights out there and allowing people to be aware when we do lose somebody in the line of duty," said Snellville Police Sgt. Brian Rankin, who stopped by Howard's home with Officer Finney.

Council member Howard said the latest blue lights are in honor of Pennsylvania Trooper 23-year-old Landon Weaver who was shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute.

Howard posted the sign in October after five peace officers were shot and killed in Dallas.

"It became the trigger for me to say I needed to do something and I need to do something publicly and I need to do something that is tangible that you can see," said Howard.

It is something tangible, meaningful and rooted in Howard's earlier years as an EMT working alongside police.

"This is just one small way to say thank you for what you guys do," he told Sgt. Rankin and Officer Finney as they stood next to the sign.

Howard said once he's aware of an peace officer's 'final watch' he leaves the blue lights on 48 hours, reflecting on recent police deaths in December.

"It was a total of 8th days in a row the lights stayed on, December 5, 6, 7 and one on the 8," said Howard.

He said he's not sure how long he'll continue to activate the lights, hoping in 2017 he'll be able to leave the lights off.

"The goal would be we have zero officers lost in the line of duty in the course of a year or anytime, so yeah I'll do it as long as can," said Council member Howard.