Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Shot and Killed on the Olympic National Forest

[SCPD]

I am saddened to report that the U.S. Forest Service has lost one of our own. Kristine Fairbanks was killed on September 20, 2008. She made a vehicle stop on a van that had no license plates. The suspect fired a single round, killing Fairbanks. Fairbanks partner, a German Shepard named "Radar", was found inside Fairbanks' patrol vehicle, unharmed. The suspect then drove off the Forest, found a vehicle to steal at a house and killed the vehicles owner. Later that evening he drove to a convenience store. Two Clallam County (Washington) deputies observed the suspect and drew their weapons on the suspect as they initiated the arrest. The suspect drew a pistol and fired a shot at the deputies, who then returned fire, killing him.

As Fairbanks was alone at the time of her shooting, and with the suspect dead, details of the initial shooting will probably never be known. The FBI is conducting the investigation on the shooting of the Forest Service officer. An incident command team was sent to Port Angeles to coordinate the memorial service, make sure the family has assistance, initiate benefits for her husband and daughter, and to conduct critical incident stress debriefings for personnel on the Olympic National Forest. Both Fairbanks and her husband had worked as seasonals at Olympic National Park as well.

Further details can be found at these links:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/

http://www.odmp.org/officer/19566-officer-kristine-fairbanks

This is the 6th Forest Service law enforcement employee to die on duty, and the 4th killed by gunfire. The last officer to be killed by gunfire was in 1989, when he was tracking some robbery suspects in snow in Bonner County, Idaho.

A memorial service is to be held in Port Angeles, Washington tomorrow (9/28) and is expected to have more than 5,000 attendees.

 

[chrismol1]

omg!
he killed 1 and it took 2 to get him wow

 

[petey_racer]

Damn shame!

Too bad someone didn't kill that SOB earlier. How many innocent lives did this lowlife impact with this little crime spree?
I am VERY glad the offices did kill him though. He would have been tied up in our broken legal system for years.

 

[SCPD]

Yes, it's a tragic event. We have our flag lowered for it. I am my ranger district's safety officer and just recently re-screened a 10 year old video on personal safety in the forest. I wonder if we'll have a safety standown to go back over this issue, especially w/ hunting season opening. We often take for granted that we can get ourselves into some hairy situations in the forest. Especially on forests that have issues with meth labs and pot farmers. Everyone who ISN'T a FS LEO thinks it's a dream, cake job. But they are seriously short-handed out there. I didn't hear that the suspect was later killed himself. Glad to hear it, sad to say.....

 

[cousinkix1953]

Of course I didn't hear about this from our national cable TV news outlets over the last weekend. I didn't see anything in the Associated Press articles listed at the bottom of our local newspaper's website either. Thanks for letting the rest of us know what's really going on...

 

[SCPD]

Of course I didn't hear about this from our national cable TV news outlets over the last weekend. I didn't see anything in the Associated Press articles listed at the bottom of our local newspaper's website either. Thanks for letting the rest of us know what's really going on...

If my wife did not go to a public presentation about wildlife, where there were ex co-workers of mine, we would not have heard either. All the Forest Service employees at the event were wearing badge shrouds. As I'm laid up with a broken hip for quite some time, I'm not out connecting with those I used to work with.

When a federal officer is gunned down the national media doesn't seem to carry the story. As this incident involved a double murder and a shootout with law enforcement I was surprised not to hear about it on national news. The media is tied up with the election and the state of the economy.

The links I listed in my first post eventually lead to a place where cards may be sent and a bank that is administering a memorial fund for her husband and daughter. I believe there is also a fund on the "national officer down" website, and I can't remember if that is the actual name. As a former U.S. Forest Service employee that worked in law enforcement I plan to contribute to the memorial fund.