In 1962, the Congress enacted and President Kennedy signed into law a joint resolution designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week.…
In 1962, the Congress enacted and President Kennedy signed into law a joint resolution designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week.
National Police Week is observed with numerous events here in our Nation's Capitol and parallel events in communities across the Nation. The two most moving of these events are the Peace Officers Memorial Day ceremony, on the Capitol grounds, and a candlelight vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on Judiciary Square. At that candlelight vigil, the name of each officer who perished in the line of duty during the preceding year is read aloud to an assemblage numbering 10,000 or more.
These events emphasize the heroic acts of the law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial bears the inscription that our fallen officers are not heroes for the way that they died but for the way they lived their lives. Heroes, as we know, live on forever in our hearts, our spirits and our collective memories
But for the families, friends and co-workers of law enforcement officers
who lost their lives in the line of duty, the grief and the loss are very real. The survivors of fallen law enforcement officers command our sympathy and our prayers.
Yet after the funeral is over and news of the tragedy falls off of the front pages of the daily newspaper, the very hard and often solitary process of adjustment begins. In many cases, that process can last for years and years after the loss and during that lengthy period, our police survivors need support in more tangible ways.
On May 14, 2003, on the eve of the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service, 10 widows of fallen law enforcement officers came together at dinner to ask the question, ``What about us?''
At the National Police Week gatherings, everyone focuses on the loved one whose life is lost, but it is also important to focus on the needs of survivors who must rebuild their lives from the ashes.
From this dinner conversation came the birth of a new national organization called ``Concerns of Police Survivors.'' The acronym is ``COPS''.
One year later, COPS was formed at the first National Police Survivors Seminar which drew 110 law enforcement survivors.
Suzie Sawyer, a former President of the Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary was selected as COPS' first Executive Director. She is also the only person to have served as the group's executive director.
Today, COPS provides healing, love and the opportunity for a renewed life to over 15,000 families through a network of 48 chapters around the country.
Over its 22 year history, COPS, as it is called, has expanded its offering of programs to include: peer support and counseling for survivors every day of the year, assistance in obtaining death benefits, assistance in coping with parole hearings, and scholarships for surviving spouses and children.
It offers special programs for parents, siblings and spouses of fallen officers as well as a summer camp for young and teenage children.
COPS also trains police agencies on how to cope with a line of duty death.
But one of the most important activities COPS offers is the Annual Police Survivors Seminar. This weekend at a hotel in Alexandria that is closed off to the public and the media, survivors from across the country will find a safe place to vent, to cry, to laugh, to think, and to heal.
COPS has played a pivotal role in helping the families of Alaska's survivors rebuild their lives. COPS was there for Laurie Heck Huckeba, the widow of Alaska State Trooper Bruce Heck, slain on January 10, 1997. Laurie went on to become a member of the COPS national board of directors, and facilitates sessions at the National Police Survivors Seminar.
Survivors helping survivors--that's what COPS is all about.
And COPS was there for the family of slain Kenai Police Officer John Watson, who tragically lost his life on Christmas Day, 2003, while checking on the welfare of another. Officer Watson is the last Alaska officer to lose his life in the line of duty.
COPS will be there for the family, co-workers and friends of Vicki Armel, the Fairfax County Detective who was senselessly slain by a sniper outside the Sully District Police Station this week.
And it will do the same for the survivors of slain Philadelphia Police Officer Gary Skerski, also shot to death this week after responding to a robbery call at a bar. The perpetrator told patrons that he planned to kill an officer. Eleven Philadelphia officers have been shot in the last 25 months, according to the Fraternal Order of Police. Every one of those incidents takes an emotional toll on so many others.
Thanks to the work of Suzie Sawyer and COPS, all of those affected by a police line of duty death no longer need to ask the question, ``What about us?''
They refer to law enforcement as the ``thin blue line.'' Thanks to COPS, that thin blue line of support for our law enforcement families is tens of thousands of people thick.
In honor of our police survivors and the vital work that is undertaken by COPS, I joined with my colleagues earlier this week in offering Senate Resolution 473 which designates May 14, the anniversary of the founding of COPS, as National Police Survivors Day. The resolution is intended to engage all of our fellow citizens to lend their hearts and to lend a hand to the survivors of our police heroes.
I am pleased that the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 473. I appreciate the support of our colleagues in moving this resolution through swiftly. It is especially timely given the unfortunate events that occurred this week in Fairfax County and in Philadelphia. How tragic that these events occurred on the very eve of National Police Week.
I also want to acknowledge the leadership of my colleague, Mr. Talent, in whose state of Missouri COPS is headquartered, and my colleague, Mrs. Lincoln, our lead co-sponsor on the Democratic side, who worked with me to put forward this resolution.
In the United States, one law enforcement officer dies in the line of duty every 53 hours. Each year somewhere between 140 and 160 lose their lives in the line of duty.
As we remember the heroic deeds of the 17,535 law enforcement officers whose names are carved into the marble wall on Judiciary Square, let us also take a moment to reflect on those who are left to carry on. Let's do this on May 14--National Police Survivors Day.
