This week is National Police Week and this Friday, May 15, is National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.
In Washington, D.C. each year, 25,000-40,000 attendees gather to participate in National Police Week events including a Blue Mass, Candlelight Vigil, Wreath Laying Ceremony, Honor Guard Competition, and the Emerald Society & Pipe Band March and Service.
Members of the Minneapolis Police Honor Guard customarily travel to Washington, DC to take part in these ceremonies. There, they also honor the service and memory of Minneapolis Police Officers killed in the line of duty through a ceremony they themselves have created. For each of our officers killed in the line of duty, they place 5×7 laminated cards that they have designed and made with the officer’s line of duty story, the officer’s picture and the Minneapolis Police Department’s patch. As our guard members affix each laminated card to the stone base of the memorial, they find the name of our officer and trace it to the exact spot on the stone, rubbing a finger over the name and saying the name as part of a tradition of “remembering and speaking”.
Here at home, our Honor Guard and Color Guards customarily also participate in National Police Week ceremonies and vigils at the Minneapolis City Hall or the Hennepin County Government Center and at the Law Enforcement Memorial on the State Capitol grounds in St Paul.
In the midst of the pandemic, public National Police Week events and ceremonies in Minnesota and throughout the nation have been cancelled for 2020.
This year, instead of a public memorial, the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association (LEMA) will hold a ceremony honoring Minnesota’s Fallen Law Enforcement Officers on May 15th and will share the program on Facebook LIVE at 7:00 p.m. CST on Friday, May 15th. Here is a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinnesotaLawEnforcementMemorialAssociationlema/
Photograph courtesy of Amy Sizer