Much of Scott Patrick’s professional life revolved around Dodd Road.

The Mendota Heights officer, who took pride in his community-based policing, patrolled the roadway with gusto during his 19 years on the city’s police force — making traffic stops, befriending strangers and checking up on old friends.

“He would always drive up and down Dodd,” said Mendota Heights officer Bobby Lambert, who worked the day shift with Patrick for 13 years. “Whether he was going up to the Holiday store for breaks or even off duty to talk with people there who he knew, it was always with him.”

Dodd Road also was where Patrick’s life was cut short, the place where the 47-year-old officer was shot and killed in broad daylight during a traffic stop near Smith Avenue in West St. Paul on July 30. His killer, Brian Fitch Sr., was convicted in February of first-degree murder. Fitch is serving life in prison without parole.

Soon, Dodd Road could serve as a lasting tribute to Patrick, who left behind his wife of 26 years and their two teenaged daughters, Amy and Erin.

A bill introduced at the state Capitol this year by Rep. Joe Atkins seeks to designate a portion of Highway 149 (Dodd Road) as “Officer Scott Patrick Memorial Highway.”

The north-south road runs through several Mendota Heights neighborhoods, including Patrick’s, and extends north into West St. Paul.

Designating Dodd Road is one of many efforts underway to honor Patrick, who was the city’s most senior officer and the first to die in the line of duty.

Last week, the Mendota Heights City Council took an initial step toward the creation of a statue or another physical memorial honoring Patrick. A committee was formed that will look at potential sites and funding sources.

Meanwhile, the Mendota Heights Police Officers’ Benevolent Association, a nonprofit set up after Patrick’s death, will host a comedy show April 11, with proceeds going toward sending Patrick’s family and department officers to National Police Week in Washington D.C. in May.

There, his name will be etched onto the National Law Enforcement Memorial on May 15.

In the aftermath of Patrick’s murder, Lambert and officers John Larrive and Mike Shepard were picked by the department to organize fundraisers for Patrick’s family and sort through the deluge of requests from people who offered to help.

The three recently finished writing and sending off the last of the approximately 2,000 thank-you letters to people across the United States who gave their condolences to the department.

The officers have a daunting task, Police Chief Mike Aschenbrenner said.

“Literally, at some points in time their list of things to do has been several pages long,” he said.

The work has been a bittersweet honor, Lambert said.

“I know I can speak for John and Mike when I say we all know that Scott would have done the same thing for any of us,” Lambert said.

First and foremost, the focus must be centered on the wishes of Patrick’s family, Larrive said.

That was exactly the case earlier this month when Amy Patrick asked her dad’s partners to stand in for him at her first high school father-daughter dance. On March 7, seven officers accompanied the 14-year-old to the dance.

“We’ll make certain his daughters are not alone in times like that,” Lambert said.

Lambert, Larrive and Shepard will be part of the new study committee, as well as council members Ultan Duggan and Liz Petschel. Although there is not enough time to have a physical memorial built for the one-year anniversary of Patrick’s death, Larrive said, “the road signage can happen.”

Last week, a House committee moved along Atkins’ bill as well as another authored by Rep. Leon Lillie’s that would memorialize a part of Minnesota 36 in Maplewood after Maplewood Sgt. Joseph Bergeron, who at age 49 was shot to death in an ambush in St. Paul on May 1, 2010.

Last year, legislators passed a similar bill designating a segment of Minnesota 36 in North St. Paul after Richard Crittenden Sr., a nine-year veteran of the city’s police department who died not far from the roadway on Sept. 7, 2009, when the 57-year-old was shot while responding to a domestic violence call at an apartment building.

Highway 149 would remain Dodd Road for official identification and addressing purposes, but blue and white signs would mark the designation.

Michelle Patrick, Scott’s widow, told Mendota Heights council members that when Lambert, Larrive and Shepard asked for her thoughts on memorializing a roadway after her husband, “I’m like, ‘It’s got to be Dodd.’ ”

She said whenever she would ask her husband where he was in his police cruiser, his response always seemed to be, “Dodd and (Highway) 110.”

Nick Ferraro can be reached at 651-228-2173. Follow him at twitter.com/NFerraroPiPress.

IF YOU GO

What: “M.H.P.D. to D.C.,” a comedy show and silent auction to raise money to send Officer Scott Patrick’s family and a group of Mendota Heights officers to National Police Week in Washington D.C. in May. Patrick’s name will be etched onto the National Law Enforcement Memorial on May 15.

When: 5:30 p.m. on April 11, with comedy show starting at 7 p.m.

Where: Ramada, 2300 E. American Blvd., Bloomington

For more information: Go to OfficerScottPatrick.com