The History of the National Peace Officers' Memorial

The night before the second Memorial Service in 1983, Trudy and Suzie had the honor of sitting around a table talking with 10 surviving spouses of fallen officers who chose to attend the Memorial Service in DC. Those women made Trudy and Suzie realize that you cannot understand the devastation, pain, and issues of losing a spouse in the line of duty until you experience it. The surviving spouses talked about their emotional and financial issues, the need for a national support group, and the need for a grief seminar during future National Police Weeks. They demanded that seminars for all family members should be planned.

During the next several months, there was steady communication with these surviving spouses and a grief seminar was planned. But more importantly, necessary paperwork was completed during that time; and on May 14, 1984, the 110 law enforcement survivors who attended that first grief seminar voted unanimously to organize Concerns of Police Survivors. The rest is history; last year approximately 5,000 law enforcement survivors traveled to Washington, DC, to take part in National Police Week events.

In October of 1984 the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund was organized and Suzie Sawyer, who was now also the Executive Director of Concerns of Police Survivors, was asked to be a signatory on the NLEOMF incorporation papers. As the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was being completed and after a trip to a beautiful candlelight vigil for fallen officers in Arizona, Suzie suggested holding a candlelight vigil during National Police Week at the Memorial. Attendance at this event, too, grew by leaps and bounds since it was initiated and the NLEOMF Candlelight Vigil is now held on the Mall in Washington, DC.

Suzie planned the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service for 10 years, served as the Executive Director of C.O.P.S. for 28 years, and just recently retired as the National Secretary for NLEOMF. When asked about her thoughts of having been involved with these National Police Week events, Suzie said, “All this was an honor and a privilege. It only takes a spark to start the flame. Thank God, there were thousands, not hundreds, who also saw the need for our Nation to honor and remember fallen officers, to thank retired officers for their service, yet it remains a daily task to educate our communities that officers still working the streets need their support and respect. These National Police Week events are powerful ways of proving to the public that selfless sacrifices of law enforcement officers and their families are given every day to protect our rights and liberties in the United States. God bless America’s law enforcement officers.”

From The American Presidency Project, Proclamation 3466—Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day, 1962, “Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved June 21, 1961 (75 Stat. 94), has designated the week of May 13-19, 1962, as Police Week in recognition of the contribution the police officers of America have made to our civilization through their dedicated and selfless efforts in enforcing our laws, and has also designated May 14th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of the Federal, State, and municipal peace officers who have been killed or disabled in line of duty…”

The story of this important memorial is given at the Police Memorial Trust. Behind the tower of glass, in the creeper-covered block a book of remembrance is displayed behind glass. This book "starts with an unknown constable killed in 1680. There are nearly 1,600 names recorded, of those officers unlawfully killed while in the execution of their duty, or in the course of effecting an arrest or the performance of acts of gallantry or other hazardous duty, taken from the 4,000 names on the National Police Officers Roll of Honour of officers who have died in the line of duty." The creeper conceals a large concrete London Underground vent shaft.