Support is needed to help this department honor its fallen officers

PARMA, Ohio – The Parma Police Department is asking the community for support for their association’s donation drive to help build a memorial garden.

“It’s powerful and exciting, and I’m so proud to be part of the project,” said Detective Lt. Amanda Kaniecki of the Parma Police Department.

The American flag waves in the gusty autumn wind Tuesday as a symbol of freedom, unity and sacrifice, and also a representation of what Kaniecki is hopeful about what the entrance outside their department will one day become.

“It’s just a way to honor all the officers who gave everything they had to the department and to the community,” Kaniecki said.

One of those officers Kaniecki said the department plans to commemorate Officer Kandice Straub, the first female member of the Parma Police Department’s SWAT team, in their future memorial garden.

“I had the luxury of calling her my friend, but I was also her colleague and supervisor for quite some time,” Kaniecki said.

In April, the department announced Straub’s death, which her mother, Karla, told News 5 the following June was the result of suicide.

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“The whole mental health issue has such a stigma — it’s too powerful — it shouldn’t be that way. It just shouldn’t be that powerful,” Karla told News 5 in June.

Months later, Karla speaks out again, but this time to show her appreciation for the work that the Parma Police Association leads, which is also similar to the memorial garden that Kandice’s family, colleagues and friends created in his memory a few weeks later to the fallen officer.

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“These people really matter,” Karla said. “It takes a specific type of selfless person to do that work knowing they might not make it home that day.”

So far, Kaniecki said two Parma police officers have died in the line of duty, and nine other officers of various ranks, like Straub, have died while serving the city.

Kaniecki hopes to announce their names a day after phase one of the commemoration is completed.

But before this happens, Kaniecki asks for the community’s help by purchasing a brick to be included in their memorial garden and to also support their goal of raising $90,000.

“To know that we’re giving back to the officers who gave it their all,” Kaniecki said. “It’s powerful and exciting and I’m so proud to be part of the project.”

The association hopes to raise enough money for its goal of breaking ground in the spring of 2025.

To give back, click here.