Dressed in the standard khaki cargo pants and green polo
shirts, the members of the 266th Session of the FBI National Academy
walked among walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on
Wednesday night. As the sun started to set, they kneeled by the 20,789 names.
Some sat nearby in silence, others etched names they recognized onto paper.
The officers looked across E Street at the wide 30-foot hole
in the ground, part of the construction that will eventually become the
National Law Enforcement Museum. They talk about making a trip back to
Washington, DC, in mid-2018, when the Museum is slated to open.
The FBI’s Jeffery S. McCormick started the wreathlaying
ceremony with the introduction, welcoming the 266th Session to the
Memorial. The presentation of colors was provided by the Alexandria (VA) Police
Department.
Memorial Fund President and CEO Craig W. Floyd was happy to
have the members of the National Academy at the Memorial this week.
“Tonight you help us commemorate a very special milestone in
law enforcement history,” he said. “It was 25 years ago this past Saturday, on
October 15, 1991, when we dedicated this majestic monument that was built to
honor the men and women in law enforcement. To honor our service, remember
those who have sacrificed their lives in the performance of duty.”
Mr. Floyd took a few minutes to share the history of the
Memorial, how it was built and the special significance of Judiciary Square,
where the Memorial, and soon the Museum, stands.
“It was in 1972 when a detective from Suffolk County in New
York, by the name of Donald Guilford, had the vision to build a national law
enforcement officers memorial. And he took that to his local Congressman, and
they introduced a bill. Language for some time, but ultimately they went to a
leader among law enforcement. His name was Mario Biaggi, a Congressman from New
York City. He had served for 23 years with the New York City Police Department.
A legendary figure, he was wounded 10 times in the line of duty, the most decorated
officer in New York City history when he retired in 1965. He served 20 years in
Congress, and he always said one of his proudest, if not the proudest, achievement he ever had was the establishment of the
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
“He introduced the legislation, became law in 1984. And
after seven years of dedicated effort, we opened this monument to the public.
It wasn’t easy. It took us two years to pick the specific site it should be
built on. Congress didn’t legislate that. So we scoured the city, and we came
upon Judiciary Square, where we’re standing here tonight. They say that
President George Washington once stood in this very place. He decided that this
Judiciary Square would become the seat of our judicial branch of government, the
seat of criminal justice in America. It’s one of the three major spaces they
designed Washington around. We felt that this was the spot to honor the men and
women who enforce the laws of our nation, and keep the peace.
“So in 1991, when we dedicated this memorial, there were
12,561 names added to these Memorial walls. It was a Herculean task to identify
those fallen heroes. It’s never been done before. We were the first.”
Braving temperatures in the teens, Memorial Fund President
and CEO Craig W. Floyd climbed down 65 feet into the construction site of the
National Law Enforcement Museum. Strapped to his back as he climbed down
several ladders on this December day, was a wooden box containing rubbings of
names of fallen officers from the Memorial across the street. 
The rubbings were part of a project from National Police
Week in 2014. Visitors to the Memorial were asked to make extra rubbings of
their loved one’s names so they could be placed into a capsule and embedded
into the Museum underneath the area which will contain the Museum’s Hall of
Remembrance. Hundreds of rubbings were collected and they waited for the day
when they could be forever sealed into the foundation of the building designed
to tell their profession’s story. That day came on December 15, 2016.
Mr. Floyd carefully delivered the capsule to its final
resting place. He gently placed the wooden box into the ground, and shoveled in
the dirt on top. Concrete will soon be poured over the site as construction for
the Museum continues.
