Lawrence Bass

             Years of Service ~ 1894 to 1902, 1907 to 1920

                 Killed in the line of duty on March 18, 1920

Chief Bass and Undersheriff William Stretcher, of the Boulder County Sheriff's Department, were killed in an automobile accident while responding to a fire. The Buick they were driving was only two days old and was the department's first police car. As they entered the intersection of 19th and Pearl Streets they collided with the city's first fire truck. Chief Bass and a civilian occupant of the police car were killed in the accident. Undersheriff Stretcher, also an occupant of the vehicle, succumbed to his injuries four days later.

Chief Bass was the first Boulder police chief and was the department's first officer to be killed in the line of duty.  At the time of his death, Chief Bass had 21 years of service with the Boulder Police Department.