Jeremiah Joseph Murphy

Butte Police Department — Butte, MT

Felonious

End of Watch September 20, 1935

Age 63

Tour of Duty 42 yrs

The Vigil Panel 70 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 13

Incident

Chief Murphy was killed in a struggle with a man he was attempting to arrest. Chief Murphy was attempting to subdue a man with a gun at the Montana Power Company when he struck his head on the marble floor. Chief Murphy died as a result of his injuries. The suspect was only convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Survivors

Chief Murphy had served with the Butte Police Department for 42 years and was survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MT-4DA98756
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

42 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Murphy gave the Butte Police Department 42 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Butte community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Murphy.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Butte Police Department

Location Butte, MT

Platform Identity bpd.silverbow.mt.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch September 20, 1935

Tour of Duty 42 yrs

Age 63

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Person

Offender Sentenced to 30 days

Chief of Police Jeremiah Joseph Murphy is one of 17,623 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 54.2% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In MT, 93 of 142 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 65.5% of this state's fallen. That is 11.3 percentage points above the national rate of 54.2%.

At Butte Police Department, 10 of 14 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 71.4% of this agency's fallen.

Butte Police Department

of 14 officers

71.4% Felonious

MT — Statewide

of 142 officers

65.5% Felonious

Nationwide

17,623

of 32,508 officers

54.2% Felonious