Category: Events

The names of fallen U.S. law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty will be formally dedicated on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial during a virtual Candlelight Vigil tonight Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 7:00pm Central Time.

Traditionally held on the National Mall with more than 30,000 first responders, surviving families and law enforcement supporters in attendance, special remarks and the names of each of the men and women who died in the line of duty during 2019 will be read aloud during the virtual Candlelight Vigil, which will be live streamed. The names of fallen law enforcement officers who died earlier in history, but whose sacrifice had not been previously documented, will also be read during this time.

For more information and to learn how to view the vigil, visit: https://nleomf.org/programs-events/national-police-week/candlelight-vigil

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

In Washington, DC each year, 25,000-40,000 attendees gather to participate in National Police Week events including a Blue Mass, Candlelight Vigil, Wreath Laying Ceremony, National Police Survivors Conference, Honor Guard Competition, and the Emerald Society & Pipe Band March and Service.

Members of our Honor Guard usually travel to Washington, DC to take place in these ceremonies. There they also honor the service and memory of Minneapolis Police Officers killed in the line of duty through a ceremony they have themselves have created. For each of our officers killed in the line of duty, they place 5×7 laminated cards that they have designed and made with the officer’s line of duty story, the officer’s picture and the Minneapolis Police Department’s patch. As our Guard Members affix each laminated card to the stone base of the memorial, they find the name of our officer and trace it to the exact spot on the stone, rubbing a finger over the name and saying the name as part of a tradition of “remembering and speaking”.

Here at home, our Honor Guard and Color Guards usually also participate in National Police Week ceremonies and vigils at the Minneapolis City Hall or the Hennepin County Government Center and at the Law Enforcement Memorial on the State Capitol grounds in St Paul.

In the midst of the pandemic, public Law Enforcement Memorial events and ceremonies in Minnesota and throughout the nation have been cancelled for 2020.

This year, instead of a public memorial, The Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association (LEMA) will hold a ceremony honoring Minnesota’s Fallen Law Enforcement Officers on May 15th and will share the program on Facebook LIVE at 7:00 p.m. CST on Friday, May 15th. Here is a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinnesotaLawEnforcementMemorialAssociationlema/

This year’s Police Memorial Day ceremony planned for noon on May 15 at the Hennepin County Government Center has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Candlelight Vigil scheduled for dusk the same evening on the State Capitol grounds has also been cancelled. LEMA will instead perform a virtual ceremony. As we learn more details about where and how you can view that ceremony, we will post them.

A sincere thank you to the Minneapolis Police Honor and Color Guards for their commitment to honoring the departed, comforting the bereaved and presenting the colors.