Jefferson City police join nation in honoring fallen officers

Jefferson City police officers will be wearing mourning bands this week in honor of officers who have died in the line of duty.

The bands are part of the Jefferson City Police Department's (JCPD) participation in National Police Week, a countrywide event meant to honor and remember fallen law enforcement officers.

JCPD officers and communities around the country will honor those who have died.

According to a JCPD news release, the names of 556 officers who died in the line of duty will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., this year.

Of those officers, 224 of them died in 2022. The other 332 died in years past, but weren't known or honored then. Those 556 names will join the 23,785 names already engraved on the memorial.

The week of mourning was established in 1962 when President Kennedy named May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week it falls in as National Police Week, the release said.

The week will be observed until Saturday.