Alexandria Officer Added to Police Memorial Wall

Alexandria police officer Morton Marshall Ford III, who died in 2011, was among those added this week to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Wall.

In remarks to an estimated 20,000 officers, families and supporters at a ceremony Monday at the wall in Washington, DC, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the dead represented “the best of our nation.”

In all, 321 new names were added to the wall and honored with a candle-light vigil Monday night, including 120 who died in 2012.

See: National Police Week 2013: Candles Raised for the Fallen

On Nov. 26, 1974, Sergeant "Morty" Ford was shot when he and several other officers responded to a robbery in progress in Old Town, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website.

The responding officers and three suspects exchanged gunfire. Ford was shot in the chest and transported to the hospital. He recovered from the injury and returned to work. After retirement, his health deteriorated. His physicians determined that one of the blood transfusions during his surgery was infected with Hepatitis C. Ford died of liver cancer on June 18, 2011.

Ford, who headed the Alexandria Police Department’s vice and narcotics squad, was the center of a charged legal battle in the 1980s, according to his obituary in the Washington Post.

Ford was in newspaper headlines in 1985 for publicly accusing then Police Chief Charles Strobel of cutting short a drug probe in which city officials’ names were mentioned on a police informant’s tape recording, according to the obituary.

Ford and another officer accused Strobel of transferring them to patrol duties or basically punishing them for speaking out, according to the report. In August 1985, a U.S. District Court jury found Strobel had violated the two officers’ constitutional rights to free association and due process. The jury awarded the officers $15,000.

At the time, Alexandria City Manager Vola Lawson said an internal investigation into Strobel’s leadership found “significant failure of top management in the department.” Strobel later was acquitted of all charges that arose during his 10 years as police chief.

Officer Kenneth Bryson posted a comment on the Officer Down Memorial Page, saying May 13, 2013: "I first began my career in law enforcement as a civilian working in the Communications Division at the old Alexandria Police HQ located on N. Pitt Street. I can remember the good times on the midnight shift working with the likes of Ned Thompson and others. During that time I had the opportunity to meet Sgt. Morty Ford. He was a true professional and treated everyone, both sworn and civilian with respect and dignity. I later went on to join the Metropolitan Police Department as a sworn officer where I served 27 years before retiring in 2010. Rest in peace my brother and we will always remember your service."