Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief Lawrence suffered a fatal heart attack while on duty. Chief Lawrence had served as chief of the agency for 21 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and son.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NC-043FBC60- 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
21 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Lawrence gave the Mount Airy Police Department 21 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Mount Airy community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Lawrence.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police R. E. Lawrence is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In NC, 33 of 664 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5% of this state's fallen. That is 1 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At Mount Airy Police Department, 1 of 3 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 33.3% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. R. E. Lawrence's cause is highlighted.
How R. E. Lawrence Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. R. E. Lawrence is highlighted in Oct.
Others Who Wore This Badge
2 officers from Mount Airy Police Department are honored on badge.nw.
