Nearly 19,300 names grace the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which honors police killed in the line of duty. Survivors and colleagues of those officers are now converging in Washington for National Police Week. The week recognizes officers slain on the job and lets their spouses and children meet with others who have suffered similar losses.
“For a lot of these children, this is the first time they’ve ever sat face to face with someone who’s also had a loved one killed tragically, in the line of duty,” said Jennifer Thacker, the director of national outreach for the Concerns of Police Survivors, which is known as COPS and is one of the week’s organizers.
Events kicked off with a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial Saturday and a motorcycle procession from RFK Stadium on Sunday. On Thursday, about 1,300 bike-riding police officers from Virginia and New Jersey will arrive in the District after having raised awareness of slain officers during their 300-mile rides, said Steve Groeninger, spokesman for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, another organizer.
A candlelight vigil take place Friday night to dedicate the monument with 316 recently engraved names, Groeninger said. About half of those represent officers slain on duty in 2010; the others are officers killed in past years whose named hadn’t been added to the memorial.
The fund will light 20,000 candles around the memorial, located on E Street Northwest between Fourth and Fifth streets, at the vigil, which is open to the public, Groeninger said.
Thacker said COPS is holding conferences for families of recently slain officers to meet with “seasoned survivors” and grief counselors.
“Sitting with someone who has taken the steps to rebuild their shattered life, that provides hope,” she said.
Police Week aims to help families “after all the funerals and memorials, when everyone goes home,” Thacker said.
Local officers killed on duty last year include District Officer Paul Dittamo, Montgomery County Sgt. Hector Ayala, Maryland State Police Trooper Wesley Brown and Prince George’s County Cpl. Thomas Jensen.
