Day 28 - National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

As most of you reading this know I work very closely with law enforcement officers on a daily basis.  It is a career field I have been interested in for a long time (just ask my parents).  I think I can trace it back to my Grandpa on my Mom's side who was an officer in Eau Claire, WI.  While I did not have the opportunity to ever get to know my Grandpa well it was still an influence on me.  I still have my Grandpa's patrol hat, winter hat, patches and baton.

While I always had the desire to become an officer I kind of fell into dispatching and have been doing that for over 5 years now.  While I am not an officer I have a connection to them that the general public does not.  I have had the opportunity to ride along with these officers on shifts to see how they perform professionally under conditions most people would not believe.  In short I have a huge amount of respect for what they do everyday.

I had the opportunity to go on vacation to Washington DC in 2004.  Of the hundreds of memorials, museums and statues in Washington there was one that I knew I had to see.  I wanted to go the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at Judiciary Square.  I had been to the Minnesota Peace Officers Memorial several times and I thought I would be nice to be able to visit the national memorial as well.  I was not let down, the memorial is a magnificent tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their city, county, state or country.

Entrance to the Memorial

Pathway of Remembrance along one side of the Memorial

The names of over 17,500 officers who have died in the line of duty are inscribed in the marble walls

At each end of the pathway are statues of adult lions protecting their young.  Below each statue a quote is engraved on the wall.

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion"

Proverbs 28:1

"Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to preserve both democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream."

President George Bush

"In valor there is hope"

Tacitus

"It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived"

Vivian Eney, Survivor

It is a very moving memorial that I would encourage anyone to go to see and pay respects for those who have died in the line of duty.