Roll of Honor
Incident
Jailer Oscar Roper died as a result of complications from influenza while performing his assigned duties during the Influenza Pandemic.
Earlier in the week, an influenza outbreak had spread among prisoners and employees at the jail. Jailer Roper's death was the third death inside the jail in only hours after two prisoners died of complications of influenza. As a result of the outbreak, prisoners and employees at the jail were closely monitored for influenza symptoms.
Jailer Roper served in Law Enforcement for five years and previously served with the East Saint Louis Police Department prior to his appointment by the Sheriff to be the Jailer a year earlier.
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
Jailer Joseph Oscar Roper died on November 28, 1918 of influenza contracted in the line of duty. He was 39.
He is one of 201 officers honored here.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people worldwide than the war that preceded it. Police officers worked it without vaccines, without antibiotics, and often without masks, enforcing quarantines, transporting the sick, and standing posts in cities where the dead outpaced the undertakers.
They caught it doing the job. There was no treatment to give them.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, four children, and his mother.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IL-9E7801BF- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- August 2, 2026
- Last updated
- August 2, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
No vaccine, no antibiotics, and you stood the post anyway.
Jailer Roper gave the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department 5 years.
Thank you for your service to the Belleville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Jailer Roper.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Jailer Joseph Oscar Roper is one of 1 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,756 officers honored here.
In IL, 66 of 1,318 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 5% of this state's fallen. That is 5 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.
At St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, 1 of 5 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 20% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Joseph Oscar Roper's cause is highlighted.
How Joseph Oscar Roper Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Joseph Oscar Roper is highlighted in Nov.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
4 officers from St. Clair County Sheriff's Department are honored on badge.nw.
