Due to the COIVD-19 pandemic, the National Police Week events—which are held each May to honor fallen officers—went virtual over the past two years. October marked a return to some form of normalcy as a fall event dubbed “Police Weekend” welcomed survivors back to the National Fallen Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
From Oct. 13 to 17, the Police Unity Tour, Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) Conference, 33rd Annual Candlelight Vigil and 40th Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service were held live and in person.
The importance of events
Marcia Ferranto, the CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, spoke during the vigil of the importance of gathering in person to remember the sacrifice of fallen officers. When the memorial was dedicated 30 years ago, there were more than 12,500 names added to its walls. As a tribute, to those men and women, the foundation read each of their names in a final roll call. It lasted a full 24 hours. “Ever since, we have given that same honor to each name that has been added to this national treasure,” she says. “We continue that proud tradition with the reading of 701 names added in 2020 and 2021. These names are now officially dedicated on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial walls.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed Ferranto’s sentiments as he spoke to the more than 20,000 survivors and officers in attendance. “We gather because grieving, remembering and honoring those we have lost means more when we can do it together.” He added that he’s hopeful that the country is turning the corner on the fight against the pandemic, but that it has already inflicted a devastating toll on law enforcement. Of all officers who died in the line of duty during the pandemic, nearly two-thirds succumbed to complications from COVID-19.
Help in healing
Emilio Miyares, the Immediate Past President of COPS, is the son of Hialeah, Florida Motor Officer Emilio F. Miyares, who was killed in the line of duty on Nov. 6, 1986. He was just 7 when his father died. The senior Miyares and his partner were riding down the road when a citizen waved them down to report a pair of men walking around a dollar store with a rifle bag. The two officers started searching and found the men running into a mall. “My dad and his partner ran in and the chase ended at the end of a closed hallway. My dad had a man in a bear hug and they told him to calm down. A struggle began and they fell to the ground. The gunman gained control of my dad’s gun and while my dad was still on the ground on one knee, in front of many witnesses, my dad put his hand up and said ‘Wait, wait, I have kids.’ The man didn’t care and shot him anyways. The gunman fled the scene and was later captured, strangely enough a block away from my grandparents’ house. My dad passed away that evening in the hospital at age 27, surrounded by family, blood and blue. That day my hero was gone and my mom was left to carry everything on her shoulders. She is still my hero.”
He says that his journey to rebuild began in May of 1989 when he attended National Police Week in D.C. with his mother and little sister. He was only 10 years old. “It was during National Police Week that I learned I could connect with other survivors who truly related to my tragic experience. I wasn’t alone and I felt connection with other surviving kids. I felt normal again,” he says.
The Miyares family came back to Police Week every year and participated at COPS events, the National Law Enforcement Memorial Candlelight Vigil and the FOP memorial ceremony. After high school, he took a few years off from Police Week while attending college. In the summer of 2000, he attended the COPS Outward Bound program. “It taught me many things about the outdoors, but it also reminded me of what I was missing; my COPS family. I started getting more involved and I went back to Police Week that following May. I began wanting to give back to survivors while still honoring my hero. I started mentoring other surviving children at COPS events.”
He says that he realized everyone handles grief differently. He handled his by getting involved and helping others. “I found my purpose; I urge you to find yours. I can’t imagine my life without my blue family and the organization that has helped me rebuild my shattered life. To the young kids sitting in the audience: I was once you. To the surviving spouses with kids: Please know that even with this tremendous loss they have faced, they can still be OK. Everyone has a different path and purpose, but over the years I realized mine was just not to honor my dad, but to also help others survivors understand that there is hope and peace in our new normal. I am humbled and honored to have served as national president of COPS. But more importantly, to have been able to share my journey.”
Public sentiment
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spoke about his upbringing, which is in stark contrast to the negative public sentiment officers have had to deal with during the pandemic. As a baby, he was brought to the U.S. after being born in Cuba. “My parents instilled in me a reverence for the men and women of law enforcement,” he says. “They each grew up in a country where a person in uniform signaled danger, not safety. So, when my parents brought me to America to raise our family in a democracy, it meant everything to them to see a police officer or sheriff and know that these individuals risk their lives to protect and to serve us all.”
Around the time he was 12 years old, Mayorkas says that whenever his mother would stop their Ford station wagon at an intersection and saw a law enforcement officer on the street corner, he was taught to get out of the backseat of the car, approach the officer, shake his or her hand and thank them.
“Reverence for the men and women of law enforcement remains very much a part of me today. Let it be so for our entire nation.”
