Source al.com
American flags across the country will be lowered to half-staff today.
May 15 is National Peace Officers Memorial Day. It’s one of two days on which federal law requires American flags to be flown at half-staff. The other is Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, which honors service members who have lost their lives for their country.
“We honor our law enforcement officers every day of the year, but on Peace Officers Memorial Day, we show our support by lowering our flags to half-staff,” Lori Sharpe Day, Interim Memorial Fund Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. “It’s an important way to show our officers how much we respect their efforts to keep our communities and country safe. We will do our part by lowering the flags at the Memorial, where the names of 21,910 fallen officers are engraved.”
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According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day in 1962. The day falls during National Police Week which was established by Congress in 1962 to pay special recognition to law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a historic crime bill that stipulates Peace Officers Memorial Day as one of the only two days each year in which government agencies, businesses and residents are to fly their U.S. flags at half-staff.
As part of this year’s commemoration, 282 names of U.S. law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The names include 118 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2023, along with previous years where cases have been approved by NLEOMF’s research department.
The total number of line-of-duty deaths in 2023 represents a 49% reduction in officer deaths compared to 2022.
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