Officer Feature
Officer David “ Star ” Johnson
BY SGT VINNY COLE
Anyone who has worked for the Department for any amount of time has walked through the halls of 620 and noticed dozens of photographs hanging above the Desk Sergeant ’ s office . At present ,
these photographs scroll on a video , in chronological order . Some of the photos are in black and white , and some are in color . Some are colleagues we knew ; some are officers who worked in a bygone time in Phoenix . What has been missing from this roll of honor is Officer David “ Star ” Johnson . Officer Johnson , better known as “ Star ” around the department , was an officer who was shot and killed by an off-duty detective while working the downtown area in a “ walking beat ” capacity . The Public Affairs Bureau created a comprehensive account of this incident that can be found here : youtube . com / watch ? v = -3DKZbA0TbY.
The true spirit of this article is to talk about how Officer Johnson ’ s story has been revived , from a tragedy that occurred in 1944 to receiving recognition at a national level in 2024 . This journey began with the historical prowess of Lt . Rob Settembre , who began this endeavor in the early 2000s . Rob was able to bring the story back to life and attained recognition for Star at the State Memorial at Wesley Bolin Park . His aspirations to elevate this to a higher level of recognition were not successful despite his best efforts .
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