In Honor of the Fallen--Police Week, 2013

This week is Police Week, in honor of the men and women of law enforcement who have laid down their lives in service to their communities.

If you're one of those cop haters that seem to infest the internet, go read something else for a while.

On second thought, stick around. Maybe you'll learn something.

In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15th 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.

Traveling down to the LE Memorial Service on Monday night with my houseguests, I was honored to once again spend a few hours in the company of thousands of the finest men and women from around the globe, the law enforcement officers who came to pay tribute to those fallen in the line of duty. And the did indeed come from all over the world. Here we have two officers from India and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer.

The gathering took place, as it does every year, at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. ON this memorial are the names of over 19,000 law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Every year, the list grows longer; 321 names were added this year, including 120 who were killed in 2012.

My pictures won't do the memorial justice as it was so crowded just prior to the official ceremony, but I'm going to try to convey just a bit of what we all saw there, including a few of the personal memorial displays set up for specific officers by their family members and peers.

There were thousands of letters, pictures and mementos left, reminding us that each of these heroes was a very real person who left behind loved ones. One such display was that of Atlantic City, NJ Patrolman Thomas J. McMeekin jr..

Just below this, was a small memorial to M.I.T. Officer Sean Collier, murdered by the Boston Marathon bombers.



Officer John P. Kalaman, Centerville, Ohio. He was 21 years old when he and two firefighters were struck by a car while working to rescue people on a crash scene.


Police Officer Luke T. Hoffman, Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland. Struck by a car while pursuing a fleeing drunk driver on foot.


Deputy William Giacomo, Nicholas County Sheriff's Department, WV. Shot by a suspect that he'd just arrested for drunk driving.


Pittsburg, PA Officer Larry Elwood Lasater, Jr.. This USMC veteran was shot and killed while trying to apprehend two robbery suspects. His son was born two and a half months after his funeral.


Deputy Sheriff Kyle Pagerly, Berks County, PA. Deputy Pagerly was a K9 handler attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a fugitive when the suspect shot him with an AK-47. WHen he was hit, his K9 partner, Jynx". tried to drag him back out of the line of fire. Deputy Pagerly had been on the job five years and was a prior US Army veteran and current volunteer firefighter.


Investigator Robert Van Hall Jr., New York State Police. He was a Greet Beret in Vietnam, but he was murdered in New York by two drug traffickers with a sawed-off shotgun.

There were so many more. I couldn't even get near most of them. But they were not forgotten on this day, that's for sure. Police agencies from around the world were represented.
There were horses.


There were motorcycles.

And yes, those are short-barreled M-16 machine guns on those bikes. It's a dangerous job, and our best and most dedicated need the best tools available because they do rush into trouble as everyone else is rushing out.

And there were cops. Thousands of cops. And the vast majority of them came here at their own expense, because this is who they are and this is what they do.


These three troopers came from Alaska.

Hey--I know that one in the middle!

There were speakers, an Honor Guard, and a candle light vigil, with thousands of candles visible for a block in every direction.

I have seldom been in the company of so many great Americans at one time. Probably not since I was last down in DC for Police Week, 2009.

I've got to start making this a yearly pilgrimage. And if you are one of those people who thinks that having a concealed weapons permit makes you the equal of a police officer, you might want to show up as well. Just make sure that you keep your hat in your hand, because you will be in the presence of some of America's truly heroic men and women who have earned the respect of a great nation.

Back from Police Week

OK, I'm back from Police Week, having spent a few days down in Washington DC to mingle with cops from all over the world. Lagniappe did not come along--he stayed back here to guard the Lair and my neighbors popped in and fed him, walked him, and subjected him to the exhaustive tortures of their six year old boy whom Lagniappe loves to play with. I think that he was relieved to have me back.

Police Week 2009 was quite the event. Officers came from all around the world, from small departments to large ones, to honor those fallen in the line of duty. This year, we gathered to honor the 140 American police officers killed in 2008 as well as to remember the over 18,000 law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty to date. Police officers and their survivors filled the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. The walls of the memorial were covered with tributes to those who died in the line of duty, and many of them served to remind us that each one was a man or woman left behind family, friends and peers. Please click on these pictures to see them as they ought really be viewed.

























































Nate Burnfield. Shane Miller. William Burkett. Ricky Timbrook. Joshua Miktarian. Kathy Ann Cox. Thomas McMeekin Jr.. Thomas Morash. David Wilhelm. Scott Stewart. Just a few of the many names. My brothers and sister in blue. Gone now, along with so many others. But never, ever, forgotten.

Down to DC.

So yesterday I had to go down to Washington DC on some business. I haven't been down there in a while, but it's obvious that some things haven't changed.

That crazy ex-con DC Council member Marion Barry is proposing yet another tax on the people who work in and already support the city. Now he wants toll booths on the bridges and major roads leading into DC. Yeah ok, as if traffic isn't already impossible at rush hour--let's just stop every car on the highways to shake the drivers down for a few bucks each. Can you imagine the traffic jams? Of course this wouldn't affect Barry as he's without a driver's license following a DUI arrest and a more recent arrest for driving an unregistered, uninsured car with a suspended license. But he's what the people of Ward 8 decided that they wanted to hold up as a representative.

And of course Barry isn't the only one driving improperly in the District. I saw this fake temp tag on a car parked on 5th St. NW, right in front of the General Accounting Office building.
Also note the "thin blue line" decal that suggests that the owner is law enforcement.





As you can see, this tag is slathered with white-out, the date's clearly been altered, and the holographic strip that the DMV puts across the date area is competely gone. This car's been bombing around on this fake tag for a while, probably because the driver can't get hard tags due to tickets owed of a license suspension.



Wouldn't you know it? The car belongs to one of the GAO's "Special Police", which is a DC term for a security guard licensed to carry a gun on the job site. The title's a misnomer, because these people aren't police and have no police powers. But they love to pretend to be real police, hence that "thin blue line" sticker in the first picture. I used to love to issue tickets to these posers after pulling them over for speeding or fake temp tags (not uncommon among these folks) only to have them flash a Special Police ID and say "I'm one of y'all..."

No, you're not.

It's be nice to think that someone somewhere in GOA will bring this to the attention of the appropriate authority there, but I won't hold my breath.

And right after taking these pictures, I was nearly mowed down trying to cross the street at 5th and H streets NW. A DC Parking Enforcement car #37 blew through the stop sign as it went west on H despite the fact that I was in the crosswalk and near half way across. The driver, a black male with dread-locked hair and no seat belt on, didn't even pretend to try to stop. If I'd been holding anything but my camera his car'd have a new dent today. It'd also be nice to think that someone in DC Parking Enforcement might care, but again, I won't hold my breath.



I also saw the Honor Guard for the DC Department of Corrections practicing down at the Law Enforcement Memorial and I watched them march and present their colors for a few minutes. They looked pretty good.





And as usual, I took a few minutes at the memorial to reflect on the men and women of law enforcement who gave their lives in the performance of their duties. Police Week is coming fast, and the candle light vigil in honor of the newly-added names will be Sunday, May 13th.