On July 10th, 2012 Officer Mathew Little’s Mother, Father, Brother, Brother’s fiance, and I attended the Florida Police Chief’s Association event hosted at the Marriott Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale Florida. At this event there were approximately 20 to 30 Florida Police Chiefs from all over the state. At this event they presented several awards with the Fallen Hero award being the highest award presented on this night.
On this day Officer Little was honored with this award and his family was presented with the “Fallen Hero Award”. Mat is the first private sector officer to ever receive this award as this award has only been given to law enforcement officers that have been killed in the line of duty. As you all know we lost Mat on May 16th, 2011 while he was on patrol at Area 64 and it was a great event to honor Mat. There is nothing in this world we can do to bring Mat back, but what we can continue to do his never forget him and keep his legacy alive.
His parents continue to be proud of what he did at CIS and the impact he had on the lives of families in the communities we protect. It was an emotional event, but one that Mat would be really proud of. His parents were extremely grateful and honored that Mat was the first private sector officer to receive this award. Let us always remember our fallen brother and the “Hero” he will always be.
“Forever in our Hearts”, we love you Mat!
Major Hector Rodriguez, CPO, EPS, ATO
Commander of Uniformed Services
Click here to see the award.