Roll of Honor
Derle Edward Shoemaker
Incident
Chief Derle Shoemaker died after being in a coma for 17 days. He was accidentally struck in the head which caused him to fall from a second story balcony while conducting a warrant search training exercise. Chief Shoemaker had served with the agency for 33 years.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife, daughter and son.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-PA-1C3B10C0- 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
33 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Shoemaker gave the South Centre Township Police Department 33 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Bloomsburg community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Shoemaker.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police Derle Edward Shoemaker 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 PA, 417 of 1,261 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.1% of this state's fallen. That is 2.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Derle Edward Shoemaker's cause is highlighted.
How Derle Edward Shoemaker Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Derle Edward Shoemaker is highlighted in Jun.