Police Officer John Thomas Burnette

In the Community Policing video highlighting your life and death, as well as that of Andy Nobles, your mother relates telling people: "I'm John Burnette's mother, and I know they don't really care, but I tell them anyway". I had the privilege of meeting your mother at the N.C. Police Memorial Day Service at Duke University Chapel some years ago. I told her how all the officers in our department watched that video as part of their in-service training, and that I wanted to let her know that in regards to that statement, we cared that she was John Burnette's mother! I had a wonderful conversation with her about you and a short time after she walked away, she found me again and gave me the "baseball" cards of you and Andy Nobles that she had retrieved from her car. I cherish that conversation with your mother, and the cards have been prominently displayed in my various offices ever since. It is literally 26 years to the hour that we lost you and Andy. As sad as it is to think of who we lost at the time, it is even more sad to think of what we've lost in the years since. What would you have gone on to do? Thanks for keeping the faith, and for the sacrifice you made in your service to your community and to our profession. God Bless You, John Burnette.

NC Officer

October 5, 2019