COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KDVR) – Funeral arrangements have been announced for a Commerce City police officer who was killed in the line of duty. The Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation is planning the services for Detective Curt Holland. He will be laid to rest on Saturday, after a memorial service at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Attendance at the event is limited due to COVID-19 restrictions. Community members are encouraged to watch the live streaming video of the service online rather than attend in person. Registration to attend in person is required through an online ticketing system. Every attendee MUST reserve a seat.
“Our main function is to respond to any line of duty death for a commissioned officer in the state of Colorado. We also provide financial assistance to families of fallen officers. Since we started this foundation in 2017, we’ve responded to several line of duty deaths all over the state of Colorado,” said Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation President Stephen Redfearn. “We’ve really learned a lot unfortunately what it takes to properly plan a memorial, both logistically, financially, and we’ve learned who the right people.”
“Our mantra is: we have one time to get this right,” Redfearn said.
The team is made up of dozens of volunteers from law enforcement and fire agencies around the metro area. They have also included private companies that are willing to provide services.
Horan & McConaty donates their services and provides a casket or an urn at no charge. Over the course of the last 30 years, H&M has donated their services for 26 public safety officers.
The Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation is a non-profit organization that has helped plan six services for fallen law enforcement officers. No detail is overlooked.
“We do have a lot of connections, people we can call, airlines, hotels, restaurants, we do have every little thing planned. During one of our recent deployments, the family got to the venue first. There was a nice room for the family to wait. We had learned the fallen officer had a certain type of candy he really liked. We had that in the family room, little things like that,” said Redfearn.
“Our family liaison group has taken family members out to make sure they had dress clothes to wear to the funeral. Very small things, but because of the emotional impact this has on the family and agency, might not get thought about. Literally from start to finish, we make sure to address every need, especially for the family, but also the agency.”
They also have mental health specialists on hand to help.
“We are fortunate to have Dr. Sara Metz with Code4Ccounseling, to provide psych services to agencies who do not have robust psych services programs,” Redfearn said.
“A lot of times, we don’t know the officer who was killed in the line of duty, but it is a very long, emotional week. Any time a law enforcement officer is killed, even if we don’t know them, it hits close to home. It could be any of us on any given day.”
Thirty-seven-year-old Commerce City Police Detective Curt Holland was killed in a head on crash while on duty last Friday. A civilian, Francesca Dominguez was also killed.
“From day one, we really wanted to make sure we didn’t make this only about Detective Holland,” Redfearn said. “The enormity of the entire situation wasn’t lost on anyone, our thoughts go out to the Dominguez family as well.”
The Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation depends on donations. The family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to The Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation or the Colorado Police Foundation.
“Our goal when we come in is not have the family or agency worry about cost. Really, it’s the last thing they need to worry about,” said Redfern.
The Fraternal Order of Police is gathering donations to help Holland’s family.
Donations to the Dominguez family may be made to Meal Train.
