MOULTRIE, Ga. — Johnny O. Smith — whose son Officer Jody Smith of the Georgia Southwestern University campus police force and his best friend Americus Police Department Officer Nick Smarr were killed in December while answering a domestic-violence call — gets a hug from a fellow officer following a Friday memorial program.

The annual ceremony includes a reading of the names of officers and placing a wreath at a memorial monument engraved with the names of local officers killed while on duty.

Johnny Smith delivered a speech about his son and Smarr, who became best friends in grade school and graduated from police academy together.