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Police Honored around the Nation This Week

By David Meyer

05/16/2012

Tuesday, thousands in Washington, D.C. and millions around the nation paid tribute to 19,000 law enforcement officers who have laid down their lives to protect their fellow citizens.

This year, 362 names were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and among those names were three brave officers from Kansas, two killed in the line of duty several decades ago William Bloomfield of Bourbon County, Andrew Balfour of Kiowa County, and Atchison Police Sergeant David Enzbrenner.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran spoke on the Senate floor, honoring Enzbrenner and the other fallen officers.

Moran goes back to Enzbrenner’s memorial service, in which he attended.

He remembers one quote that sticks out to him from that service.

(Play Audio) RT: :32

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.

The Memorial Service began in 1982 as a gathering in Senate Park of approximately 120 survivors and supporters of law enforcement.

The National Peace Officers' Memorial Service, which is sponsored by the Grand Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, is one in a series of events which includes the Candlelight Vigil, which is sponsored by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and seminars sponsored by Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.).