Remarks by President Biden at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service
OCTOBER 16, 2021
Location: Washington, D.C.

12:39 P.M. EDT
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Sergeant.  My name is Joe Biden.  I am Jill Biden’s husband.  (Laughter.)  That’s how I’m better known.
 
President Yoes, Auxiliary President Hennie, Auxiliary President Leamann [sic] and — excuse me, Lehmann — and a guy I’ve known for a long, long time, Jimmy Pasco, Executive Director: Thank you for this invitation to be with you today.
    
To Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, thank you for being here and for the great job you’re doing for us.  Thank you very, very much.  And it’s a tough job.
 
Most importantly, to the families here today, this is all about you — about you.  You know, I’ve been coming to this memorial for 40 years.  I missed a couple, but — and I’ve spoken at many — too many police memorials all around the country.  And it always amazes me how the public doesn’t fully understand what we expect of our law enforcement officers. 
 
We expect you to be people ready to stand in the way and take a bullet for us.  We expect you to be able to track down the bad guys.  We expect you to be the psychologist who talks the couple that are having a violent confrontation together to step back.  We expect you to be everything.  We expect everything of you.  And it’s beyond the capacity of anyone to meet the total expectations.  Being a cop today is one hell of a lot harder than it’s ever been. 
 
And to the families of the fallen: You’ve suffered an enormous loss.  But understand, your loss is also America’s loss.  America’s loss.  And your pain is America’s pain.
 
We’re waking up to the notion that unless we change the environment in which the job can be done, we’re going to have trouble having enough women and men come forward to want to do that job.
 
I hope all the families — sons, daughters, husbands, wives, moms, dads — I hope you’re able to take a measure of comfort and strength from the extended family you have here and all around you.
 
In remembrance and respect of this memorial and this day, I ordered our flags to be flown at half-staff.
 
We’ve met here, in front of this United States Capitol, many times before to memorialize our fallen heroes.  And it’s particularly appropriate today, because here, nine months ago, your brothers and sisters thwarted an unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American attack on our nation’s values and our votes.
 
But because of you, democracy survived — but only because of the women and men of the U.S. Capitol Police force, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies who once again, literally, put their bodies on the line to protect our democracy. 
 
That’s why I have no hesitation — had none at all — in signing the law awarding the Congressional Gold Medal of Congress — the highest expression of nation’s appreciation — to the U.S. Capitol Police and Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police and other responding law enforcement agencies.  (Applause.)
 
Because of these men and women, we averted a catastrophe.
 
But their heroism came at a cost to you and your families: 150 officers injured; 5 lost in the attack’s aftermath.  The toll on this profession these past years has been heavy.  Too heavy.  2020 was the deadliest year for law enforcement on record.
 
And today, we’re here to remember nearly 500 of your brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, sons and daughters.
 
2019 and 2020 — we lost so much.
 
I’ve attended this memorial many times, as I said, to pay my respects.  Sometimes I’ve been the speaker; other times I’ve sat on this stage and just thought about all of you sitting on the lawn.  Although this year, I don’t know any personally who have fallen — any of the individuals.  I’ve gone through all the names.  I feel I know that with- — them — without having ever met them.
 
You see, I grew up in a neighborhood — a neighborhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Claymont, Delaware; and Bellefonte, where I grew up with the guys and women that we’re honoring today.
 
One of my best friends in grade school, Eddie Hill (ph), became a superintendent of the Delaware State Police — a great friend and competitor in the other major high school.  We played ball against one another.  Charlie Doughert- — Dougherty (ph) became the head of the — chief of the Wilmington Police force.  And so many more.
 
So although I didn’t know them personally, I know you.  I know you. 
 
I always joke that I grew up in places where you either became a cop, a firefighter, or a priest.  I wasn’t qualified for them, so I had to settle for this.  (Laughter.)
 
But all kidding aside, over the years, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I’ve gotten to know you.  Even as kids, we could see, in the women and men around us, who are the ones who had the heart.  They’re the ones who ran in to help you when everyone else was running away.  They ran toward cries for help, even when they were in grade school, knowing that they’d be able to help a little bit, even if they were outnumbered.
 
And I’m not making this up.  Think about it.  Think about your son, your daughter, your husband, your wife — who they were and what was inside them.  It was about service, to protect, defend.
    
This isn’t just what law enforcement does.  It’s who you are.  It’s what makes you who you are.  And when you put on that shield in the morning and walk out the door each day, every family member dreads the possibility of receiving that phone call.
 
I was talking to Steny about this.  Just as our son, Beau, was in Kosovo for about six months and in Iraq for a year, he was the chief law enforcement officer for the state of Delaware — the attorney general.  And I’d watch every morning — because she left for school before I got on the train — Jill standing there mouthing a prayer while she drank a cup of coffee over the sink, praying — praying for Beau.  We’d do it every day.  We did it every day.  
 
You know, there’s a line from an English poet, John Milton. He said, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”  How long have you had to stand and wait and wonder when you heard something on the news or saw it television?  Thousands and thousands of American families stand and wait so their husbands, their wives, their fathers, their mothers, sons and daughters, can serve the rest of us.