Courtesy Cory Maloy The parents of Joseph D. Adams, along with Mayor Mark Johnson, unveil the donated stained-glass window that now sits in the Joseph D. Adams public safety building on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

The parents of Joseph D. Adams, along with Mayor Mark Johnson, unveil the donated stained-glass window that now sits in the Joseph D. Adams public safety building on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

Joseph D. Adams, a Lehi police officer, was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 3, 2001. Over 20 years later, his legacy and memory lives on.

Lehi’s new public safety building and memorial park both bear Adams’s name, and now his service has also been memorialized in a stained glass art installation that will sit in the Broadbent room of the Joseph D. Adams Public Safety Building. The window was unveiled at a ceremony Thursday.

Adams is the focal point of the eight-foot-long window, which also features former Lehi police chiefs Berl Peterson and Carl Zimmerman along with Darren Paul, current Lehi City Chief of Police, and Lilly Southwick, the first woman to become a sergeant in the department.

“The stained-glass art is beautiful,” Thad Adams, Joseph’s father, said in a press release. “The acknowledgment of the officers, male and female, who have died in the line of duty is proof of what bonds police officers together in their sometimes-thankless work. I think it probably means a lot to an officer to think that if they someday make the ultimate sacrifice for the city they serve, they won’t be forgotten; they will be valued for their efforts and will be remembered. It’s part of the mentality of the residents of Lehi to remember the people that have contributed to their community.”

Several iconic Lehi sights make up the background of the window, including the Thanksgiving Point Water Tower, the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo Grounds and the Lehi Roller Mills. The window also contains a key from the original Lehi Jail, an 1850s-era pistol, an official Lehi Police badge and a pair of old police handcuffs.

Courtesy Cory Maloy A stained glass window donated to the Lehi Police Department hangs in the Broadbent room of the Joseph D. Adams Public Safety Building in Lehi. The stained glass was unveiled on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

A stained glass window donated to the Lehi Police Department hangs in the Broadbent room of the Joseph D. Adams Public Safety Building in Lehi. The stained glass was unveiled on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

“This is all part of our culture here in Utah. The window tells our history in an artistic way,” Lehi Mayor Mark Johnson said in a press release. “We are grateful for the opportunity to help provide funds to this piece of art that the Roots of Humanity is donating to the Lehi Police Department and to the citizens of Lehi.”

Paul, who was childhood friends with Joseph Adams, hopes that this window can serve as a message nationwide about the role police play within th community.

“The window and the ongoing remembrance of Joe shows our current officers that our community supports us, and I think that ties our officers to the community,” Paul said. “I would hope that this goes beyond just Lehi and is a message to people everywhere that says, ‘Hey, police are a part of the community and the community and police work together to make it a safe place.'”

The stained glass window is on permanent display in the Broadbent room of the Joseph D. Adams Public Safety Building and is open to the public. The window was donated to the police station by Holdman Studios and Roots of Humanity, a nonprofit organization based in the city.

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