Patrolman Billy Paul Osborn was remembered in ceremonies conducted by the Bloomington Police Department on Sunday, February 19, 2006.

The date marked the 20th anniversary of Osborn’s death. The 28-year-old Osborn was shot February 10, 1986, by an inmate who reached through the bars of a holding cell in the old Bloomington Police Department and disarmed the officer, fatally wounding him in the neck.

Osborn was only the second Bloomington Police Officer in the 155-year history of the department to die in the line of duty, and the only one to die after being shot. The only other line-of-duty death occurred in the 1930’s, when a detective was struck by a car and died the following day.

The Bloomington Police Department honored Osborn by placing a memorial wreath in the lower level of Bloomington City Hall, which housed the police department’s detention cells in 1986. Chief Roger Aikin also read a message sent to the department by Osborn’s daughter Shawna.

Another wreath was placed at Osborn’s grave at East Lawn Memorial Gardens.

When the current Bloomington Police Facility was built in 1997, a large public meeting room on the second floor was named in honor of Osborn.

Osborn had become a Bloomington Police Officer in July 1983.