MADD May 2022 Officer of the Month
The 616 Officers who made the Ultimate Sacrifice and gave their lives in the line of duty protecting America in 2021.
“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
The 616 Officers who made the Ultimate Sacrifice and gave their lives in the line of duty protecting America in 2021.
“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 designating May 15 as
Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. While the actual date changes from year to year, National Police week is always the calendar week, beginning on Sunday, which includes May 15. This year National Police week is May 15-21, 2022.
In honor of 2022 National Police Week and Law Enforcement Memorial Day, MADD honors, as its May 2022 Officer of the Month, the 616 law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice and died in the line of duty in 2021. We honor the fallen and their families, and we are grateful for the sacrifices they made to keep our communities safe.
Unfortunately, 2021 was the deadliest year on record for officer line of duty deaths.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is centered in the 400 block of E Street, NW, Washington, DC and is the nation’s monument to law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Dedicated on October 15, 1991, the Memorial honors federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of our nation and its people.
The Memorial features two curving, 304-foot-long blue-gray marble walls. Carved on these walls are the names of more than 22,000 officers who died in the line of duty throughout U.S. history, dating back to the first known death in 1786. Unlike many other memorials in Washington, DC, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is ever-changing: new names of fallen officers are added to the monument each spring, in conjunction with National Police Week.
“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
Vivian Eney Cross, Survivor
“The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as 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 H.W. Bush
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) (along with Concerns of Police Survivors, the Fraternal Order of Police and the FOP Auxiliary) is a principal organizer of National Police Week, the annual tribute to law enforcement service and sacrifice that is held each May in Washington, DC.
This year, hundreds of names will be engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, which will bring the total to 25,747 officers killed in the line of duty since 1776 memorialized there.
The NLEOMF will host a Virtual Candlelight Vigil on May 13 at 8:00 p.m. to memorialize those who sacrificed all for their communities. National Police Week in-person events will be held May 11-21, 2022, in Washington, DC.
To see a full listing and the stories of the 616 law enforcement heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting American Citizens in 2021, click on the link below.