LAPD Goes to Washington for National Police Memorial Week

Los Angeles:  The Los Angeles Police Department has supported the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial since its dedication in 1991, by then President George H. W. Bush.  May 15th is designated at National Police Officers Memorial Day, and the entire week is set aside as Police Memorial Week.

The LAPD will hold a local candlelight vigil on May 17, 2006, at the Ahmanson Recruit Training Center, in front of its memorial at 8 PM.  The annual uniformed memorial ceremony will take place at the Police Academy in Elysian Park at 11 AM on May 18, 2006.

In addition to local ceremonies planned, LAPD officers participated in a number of ceremonies and fundraisers in Washington, D.C.  Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell led a group of about two dozen officers who represented LAPD at the various ceremonies.  

A separate contingent of LAPD officers, who are members of the Southern California Chapter of the Police Unity Tour, arrived in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2005, having ridden bicycles across the Eastern Seaboard to raise money for the memorial.  Over 700 officers from across the United States participated in the tour.  Each rider raised $1,500 toward the maintenance of the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial.

FACTS RELATED TO NATIONAL POLICE MEMORIAL WEEK

• The last LAPD officer killed in the line of duty was Officer Ricardo Lizarraga, February 20, 2004, while assigned to Newton Area.

• Over 970,500 sworn law enforcement officers are serving in the US, the highest figure ever. About 11.6 percent of those are women.

• Since the first recorded police death in 1792, there have been more than 17,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Currently, there are 17,535 names engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

• A total of 1,635 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 53.5 hours, or 163 per year. There were 155 law enforcement officers killed in 2005.

• On average, more than 56,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted each year, resulting in over 16,000 injuries.