National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is Running Out of Room for New Names
By Officer.com News
WASHINGTON -- The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is running out of room for new names.
An average of 337 names are added to the memorial every year, and at this rate, there won't be enough room.
When the memorial was first dedicated in October 1991, it displayed the names of 12,561 officers who died in the line of duty through the end of 1990. Over the past 10 years, an average of 158 officers have died in the line of duty every year, but since the memorial was created, extra names were added that weren't originally planned for.
According to a planning synopsis by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund didn't anticipate that an average of 184 historical names would be discovered and added to the wall each year.
Additionally, Sept. 11 terrorist attacks resulted in 72 names added and to this day, the memorial continues to add names of the officers die from illnesses resulting from 9/11.
"If names continue to be added at this rate, the Memorial will run out of room to add new names by the year 2029," the development site plan states.
The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to meet on Feb. 6 to discuss a proposal dedicated to expand the memorial conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, according to WUSA-TV.
The memorial site -- a 3-acre parcel at the center of Judiciary Square between E and F Streets in Northwest, and 4th and 5th Streets, Northwest -- would add 15 inches to the height of the existing curved 'Walls of Remembrance' to increase space available for names, the proposal said.
"This project will allow approximately 9,000 new names to be added to the memorial to extend the number of years to 2057," according to the proposal. "This modification would maintain the current look of the Memorial when viewed from E and F Streets and would only become apparent as one moved down the Pathway of Remembrance."
It's not currently clear where the funds for the proposed memorial addition will come from.
