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Mike Stevens’ Tribute to the Pennsylvania State Police

Mike Stevens — ” I thought of them as the long, gray line before I saw this photo at the State Police barracks in Dunmore. Over the years, that line...

Mike Stevens -- " I thought of them as the long, gray line before I saw this photo at the State Police barracks in Dunmore.

Over the years, that line is all that's separated us from those who wish us harm or who needed to be brought to justice.

The men and women of the Pennsylvania State Police have drawn that line in the concrete of cities and the soil of rural areas, sometimes with their own blood.

When Corporal Bryon Dickson of Dunmore died from an assassin's bullets at the Blooming Grove barracks, when trooper Alex Douglass of Olyphant was wounded in the same attack, that truth came home.

But Corporal Dickson's funeral in Scranton showed the long, gray line was a two-edged sword: it not only protected us, but sought those who tampered with it.

Almost from the final echo of the shots fired that night of September 12,  the search began and it never let up. For 48 days, it never let up.

Eric Frein became the lone suspect and the search intensified.

The long gray line, aided by searchers from other law enforcement agencies, faced the unknown.

Would more shots be fired? More officers killed or wounded?

Even faced with that, no one backed out, nor quit, nor walked away.

The long, gray line sought a suspect.

Frein was found by US Marshals on Halloween eve, brought back to the barracks wearing Corporal Dickson's handcuffs as one last nod to him.

The members of the long, gray line made a promise to Corporal Dickson and Trooper Douglass that it would happen and it did.

The long, gray line takes care of its own as well as us."

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