This limited edition T-shirt designed by Maui police honors fallen officer Suzanne O, who died while responding to a call Aug. 15. Photo courtesy Maui County

The Maui Police Department has partnered with ReLEntless Defender to produce a line of limited edition T-shirts to honor fallen officer Suzanne O and bolster fundraising efforts.

On Saturday, Maui police announced a memorial fund has been established to honor the 37-year-old officer who was killed in the line of duty Aug. 15 — the first Maui officer to die by gunfire in nearly 70 years.

Aaron Slater, CEO of the Texas-based company, said the design for the T-shirt came from the Maui Police Department.

On Thursday, Chief John Pelletier held an emotional press conference in which additional details and body camera footage of the shooting incident were made public. Shortly after the press conference, Slater said, a female officer and Pelletier reached out to him to do the fundraiser.

“The design (for the T-shirt) came from the chief,” said Slater, whose company has donated more than $2.5 million in its nearly 11-year existence for fallen officers, firefighters and other public servants. “We’ve made it a mission to give back.”

Slater served 22 years in police enforcement in Texas. His wife, Danielle, is an active officer in Meadows, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

ReLEntless Defender CEO Aaaron Slater is a 22-year veteran police officer who started the nonprofit in 2014 to honor fallen heroes. Photo courtesy Public Agency Training Council

With ReLEntless Defender, the capitalization of the L and E is intended to emphasize “law enforcement.” Slater said ReLEntless Defender does an average of eight to 15 fundraisers per year.

Slater owns a screen printing business that helps to facilitate the donations for fallen officers. He said the impetus for giving back and ensuring the honor and dignity of fallen officers is a personal matter.

He said that early in his career, his mentor, an older officer, died in a traffic accident, and his father-in-law was killed in the line of duty in 2021. The ReLEntless Defender brand was established as a Thin Blue clothing Line, built on a platform of support for fallen officers.

Slater said that In 2014, ReLEntless Defender set out to design clothing apparel that officers could wear with pride.

He said he discovered the available market to be saturated with clip art designs printed on cheap shirts, hats, hoodies and more, mostly from companies that purported themselves to be “police owned.”

He said while the company is young, his staff has decades of combined law enforcement experience in careers that have traversed every facet of policework.

According to Maui police, 100% of the proceeds from sales of the T-shirt and memorial band through the ReLEntless Defender Foundation, which is a registered nonprofit, will go directly to O’s family.

All donations are tax-deductible. The special pre-order fundraiser will remain open until Sept. 10. Orders will begin shipping on Sept. 11, after which the design will be permanently retired.

To pre-order T-shirts, go to tinyurl.com/mr2wb54m.