Patrolman Olin C. Wilson, Sr.
Age: 11/10/1893
Served: 2 years
March 16, 1926 to May 16, 1927
On May 16, 1927, Patrolman Wilson, while off duty, approached John Coverson, an eighteen-year-old black male, about shots fired into a boarding house. When the patrolman called out to Coverson, he shot Patrolman Wilson three times at 621 Cutter Street. An angry group of citizens overpowered Coverson and held him for police. Patrolman Wilson died at General Hospital, becoming the first black law enforcement officer to die in the service of Cincinnati.

Patrolman Wilson left a brother, Patrolman Robert A. Wilson Sr., with whom he worked in District Four, two nephews, Melvin C. Wilson and William Wilson, and a niece, Lillian Wilson-Grigsby. Robert retired in 1947. Melvin became a Jailer for Cincinnati and later worked for the Water Works. William became a Cincinnati Police Patrolman and served 42 years from 1945 to 1987. Lillian became the first black female law enforcement officer hired by Cincinnati in 1947. She served until 1965 and then worked at Hamilton County Felony Probation Office until 1982. Patrolman Olin Wilson’s great nephew, Robert G. Wilson III, served on the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department from 1971 to 1989. His great grandniece joined the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office as a Corrections Officer in 1989 and still serves.

John Coverson was charged, convicted, and executed eight months later on January 9, 1928. This was the fourth person executed for murder of a Cincinnati policeman.

Patrolman John A. Franken
Served: 9½ years
February 18, 1908 to July 7, 1927

A drug crazed black male named John Rucker armed himself with a shotgun on July 4, 1927, on Kenyon Avenue. After shooting two black males and frightening a black female to the point of heart failure and death, Patrolman Franken and Patrolman Sherman Yearion responded. Rucker shot the officers. Patrolman Franken died three days later on July 7. Rucker was convicted and, almost 1½ years later, electrocuted on November 30, 1928.

Patrolman Sargent M. Willis
Served almost 2 years
March 16, 1928 to April 23, 1930

On April 22, 1930, Patrolman Willis and others were raiding a still at Faraday Road near Baltimore Pike. During the raid, there was a gasoline explosion which injured Patrolman Willis. He died the next day, April 23.

Patrolman William O. Sorrell
Served 3 years
March 16, 1928 to November 25, 1931

Patrolman Sorrel died March 24, 1931 from gunshot wounds received when he entered a drugstore at Betts and Linn Street where a holdup was in progress.

Patrolman J. Roy Hicks
Age : 28
Served: 4½ years
October 16, 1930 to February 25, 1935
On February 25, 1935, at 7:00 a.m., Victor Pepper of 4379 West Eighth Street found Patrolman J. Roy Hicks, of 3623 Laclede Avenue, unconscious on the side of the road on about 4400 West Eighth Street near Hermosa Avenue. An investigation revealed he was chasing a speeding maroon automobile outbound on West Eighth Street. His motorcycle hit a curb and he was thrown from it striking an iron pole with his head. He died three hours later with a fractured skull and internal injures.

His brother, Harry Hicks, a District Four patrolman, was at his side. Three weeks prior to the accident, Patrolman Hicks was transferred to the Station X Motorcycle Squad. Eight days prior, he blew the bugle at the 3rd Annual Police Memorial services at the Emery Auditorium.

Services were held at his home. Six fellow officers served as pall bearer: Robert Leigh, Clifford Rhein, Fay Gallaher, Henry Heller, William Kelleher, and Henry Zimpelman.
He was survived by his widow, Bernice, and two small daughters, Mollie, 5, and Carol, 1. His widow received $70 a month thereafter as widow's pension. While his brother, Harry, attended the funeral, his furnace caught fire and his house at 4121 West Liberty burned. Patrolman Hicks’s eventual grandson, Donald Hasselbeck, and great grandsons Matt and Tim Hasselbeck, became professional football players. Don and Matt played in Superbowls XVIII and XL, respectively.

After Patrolman Hick's accident, and because he "lay on the cold, damp ground half an hour before a patrol was available to take him to the hospital," the City purchased in March 1935 seven new "Combination Cruiser/Invalid Cars," each equipped with two stretchers and first aid kits. These were later called Scout Cars and still exist today.

Patrolman Carl F. Hille, 1942
On July 15th, 1942 Patrolman Hille responded to a report of gas at the Hodge Drive-it-Yourself Co. at 511 Sycamore Street between 6th Street and 7th Street. As he walked into the building, the gas exploded killing him and four others. Sergeant Hille’s body was found in an alley between Saint Xavier School and the Convent of Notre Dame, 321 E. Sixth Street.

Safety Patrolmen Frank Vogt and Thomas Murray found two marks on the wall of the Convent of Notre Dame indicating that his body was blown over St. Xavier School building. A priest found one of Sergeant Hille’s shoes on the roof of the school, indicating that his body was lifted at least 50 feet at its apex before slamming into the convent’s wall.

Patrolman Hille had been a legendary fast-pitch softball pitcher. In 1922, he started 69 games and lost only one. In 1954, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission converted what was once known as Lucky Circus grounds into a baseball field and in 1960 dedicated the field in Patrolman Hille's memory. Over the years the field fell into disrepair. During the mid-1990s Elder High School repaired the field and uses it as its home field. On April 18, 1998, the field was rededicated as the Carl F. Hille Memorial Field.

Sergeant Hille’s brother, Louis Hille, a captain with the United States Army, died June 12, 1944, six weeks after D-Day, when a mine exploded while he was saving the life of a war correspondent.