Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief Philpot was killed in an automobile accident on Highway 12 while he and another officer travelled to Lewis-Clark State College to attend a federal certification test. Chief Philpot's patrol car was struck by another vehicle and crashed. Chief Philpot had been in law enforcement for 30 years and had served as chief for 28 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and three children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-ID-175A7269- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
30 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Philpot gave the Orofino Police Department 30 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Orofino community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Philpot.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police William J. Philpot is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In ID, 21 of 71 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 29.6% of this state's fallen. That is 1.4 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. William J. Philpot's cause is highlighted.
How William J. Philpot Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. William J. Philpot is highlighted in Dec.