When he left Dallas last month, Keith Dibble never imagined his next trip back would be for a funeral.
Officer Dibble just joined the St. Louis County Police Department, after two years on the force with the Dallas Police Department. DPD was his first job in law enforcement, and he grew close with his colleagues.
“We would all do things together. We would go on calls together. We were a pretty tight knit group,” he said.
Dibble and his family moved home to St. Louis this summer to be closer to family. Just weeks later, he saw his former city splashed across the headlines when several police officers were shot.
“They were friends of mine that I saw [on TV] that were down there,” he said. “You could hear the gunshots.”
Dibble started texting his former colleagues. He learned most were safe, but his former supervisor – Sgt. Michael Smith – would not survive his injuries
“I was sitting there thinking, you know, that was my shift to work. Those were my friends down there,” he said. “I would have been down there too, just if I would have stayed a month later, I would have been there.”
St. Louis County Police joined departments around the country, sending representatives to the five Dallas officers’ funerals. Dibble quickly accepted the offer when asked by his new department to represent St. Louis in Texas. While there, they attended the visitations and funerals for several officers, including Sgt. Smith’s
Dibble said one of the most powerful parts of the trip was learning more about Smith’s family.
“He had children that were only a year older than my two, each. Both girls. [He had] been married to his wife about the same time I’ve been married to mine. So it drew a lot of parallels,” he said. “Just looking at that thinking -- wow. He and I share so much in common and didn’t even know it.”
While in Dallas, Dibble also stopped by his old police station and visited with the men and woman on the shift he used to work. He wasn’t alone, and said he met officers from all around the country. Dallas was flooded with support for police.
“We’re human too. We have families. We care. We’re compassionate,” he said. “We’re not out there to go after anybody. We’re out there to protect, serve, and help out.”
