Author: Lt. Stephen R. Kramer, Ret

Lieutenant Stephen R. Kramer (Retired) joined the Cincinnati Police Department as a 17-year-old Police Cadet immediately after graduating high School during 1972. He was promoted through the ranks to Lieutenant by 1988 and retired after 38½ years, having served in every Patrol district and commanded Planning Section, Records Section, Information Technology Section, District Five Investigative Unit, and the Major Offenders Unit. During 1988, as a member of the Fraternal Order of Police committee charged with building the largest municipal police memorial at the time, he chaired a subcommittee to research the incidents which resulted in the deaths of Cincinnati Police Officers. He never stopped researching. By 1997, he provided narratives for the first police memorial web page published in the world. Due to his ongoing research he was invited onto the founding Board of Directors of the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society and expanded his research to every officer who gave his or her life in the service of every community in the 8-county region of Greater Cincinnati. During 2010, the Historical Society created a standing Memorial Committee to assist in the research and Lieutenant Kramer chairs the committee. Lieutenant Kramer has written and continually updates narratives for over 200 officers who have died in Greater Cincinnati. He strives to show how the officers lived and served before their deaths and how their families survived after – successes and tragedies. He currently serves as the Historian for the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum and Vice President of the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society.