Congressman Bob Ney

On Sunday, May 15th, thousands of people will gather in front of the U.S. Capitol. These people will not be staging a peaceful protest or learning about our nation's history. Instead, these thousands of people from all over the United States will gather in somber silence to honor the lives of heroes - our fallen police officers.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15th as "Peace Officers Memorial Day" and the week in which that date falls as "Police Week." For the past 43 years, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world have gathered in Washington, D.C. during that week to participate in events which honor the lives of those officers who died in the line of duty.

The first official memorial service took place on May 15, 1982. Approximately 125 people gathered in Senate Park, across the street from the Capitol, to honor 91 law enforcement officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty. Since that year, the event has grown and nine years later, on October 15th, 1991, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was dedicated in Washington. This year we will honor the lives of 415 law enforcement officers, 153 of those who made the "ultimate sacrifice" and died while protecting their communities.

I wish that our community was sheltered from this type of devastating loss. But, it was less than a month ago that we mourned the death of Officer Larry Cox of Chillicothe. A 19-year veteran of the Chillicothe Police force, he was a devoted law enforcement official who had dedicated his life to one of our nation's noblest fights...keeping our children away from drugs.

On the evening of April 21st, as Officer Cox walked home from visiting his parents, he surprised a fleeing robbery suspect who then shot him in an utterly senseless act of violence.

This year when we honor our nation's fallen officers on May 15th, we will be honoring many names, but one of those names will be all too familiar and one of our own - Officer Larry Cox.

The "ultimate sacrifice" is thankfully made by only a few, but those few represent thousands of individuals across the nation who devot their lives to protecting their fellow citizens and protecting our communities.

Flags all over the United States will fly at half-staff on May 15th. Thousands will gather in Washington to honor our fallen heroes. As you go about your lives this week, take a moment and thank the men and women in your community who risk their personal safety to protect ours. It is a job they have chosen to do, a job that not many have the courage to do, and a job that could one day require them to make the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.