This is National Police Week, honoring and remembering law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as the family members, friends and fellow officers they left behind.
Thursday is National Law Enforcement Memorial Day, but the state of Nebraska marked the occasion this morning with a ceremony in Grand Island, where Attorney General Jon Bruning was the featured speaker.
The ceremony was scheduled to be at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Memorial, but was moved into a Grand Island fire station because of the weather.
Three names have been added to the Memorial, bringing to 137 the number of names etched in its granite walls. Two were officers who died decades ago: Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent William Ransom, who died of a head injury suffered while arresting a subject on December 22nd, 1893, in Wahoo, and Oconto Town Marshal Frederick Schlote, who died in the 1960’s.
The other is believed to be the most-recent line-of-duty death in the state: 24-year old Scotts Bluff County Corrections Officer Amanda Baker, strangled in the jail during an escape attempt in February. The two teenage inmates charged in connection with her death are scheduled for trials this summer.
The $400,000 Law Enforcement Memorial was paid for through the generosity of private donations, with donations toward its upkeep still very welcome. More information about the Memorial is available by visiting its website…nememorial.org
The Scottsbluff and Gering police departments, Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office, and Nebraska State Patrol are holding a memorial ceremony Wednesday at 10:00 am on the front steps of the Scotts Bluff County Courthouse.
Government officials will read proclamations and law enforcement honors while the local Law Enforcement Honor Guard will read the names of fallen officers.
Law enforcement agencies along Highway 20 will hold a service at noon on Thursday in the Gordon Cemetery, just south of the city, with the public encouraged to attend as a way to express appreciation to the men and women of law enforcement during National Police Week.
Nationally, the names of 286 officers killed in the line of duty are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, this week. The286 include 100 officers killed in 2013 and186 who died in previous years, but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.
One officer is killed somewhere in the U.S. on average every 50 hours. It is important that all citizens know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards and scarifies that the men and women of law enforcement face every day. The safeties of our communities and the individual freedoms we enjoy have come at a high price.
· There are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States, the highest figure ever. About 12% are female.
· Since the first recorded American police death in 1791, there have been over 19,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. There are over 19,660 names engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
· On average, more than 189 police officers are assaulted every day in the U.S. resulting in 62,000 assaults yearly with 21,000 injuries, which many are permanently disabling.
· The deadliest day in law enforcement history was September 11, 2001, when 72 officers were killed, with 1930 the deadliest year with 290 deaths, and the 1920s the deadliest decade with a total of 2,318 officers died, an average of almost 232 each year. The 1990s had an average of 161 law enforcement deaths per year.
· During the past ten years, more incidents that resulted in police deaths occurred on Tuesday than any other day of the week. The fewest number of felonious incidents occurred on Monday.
· Two police officers are shot every day in the United States. Most officers are killed between 4:00 p.m. and midnight, and 25% are killed with their own weapon. Most are killed within 60 seconds of contact with a suspect, and the officer is alone or has no backup available in 40% of the deaths.