Presidential Documents

26339

Federal Register

Vol. 60, No. 95

Wednesday, May 17, 1995

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 6800 of May 15, 1995

Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1995

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Each year, we pause to remember and to honor the brave men and women

whose heartfelt commitment to the law and to their fellow citizens cost

them their lives. During 1994, we lost 56 law enforcement officers to onduty accidents. Seventy-six officers—72 State and local police and four

Federal agents—were murdered. Thirty-three of these officers were wearing

body armor when they were killed. All but one were killed with a firearm.

Three were gunned down inside police headquarters in our Nation’s capital.

America’s law enforcement officers face extraordinary risks—breaking up

a drug ring, apprehending a fugitive, responding to an incident of domestic

violence, even making a traffic stop. Since the first recorded police death

in this country in 1794, more than 13,500 law enforcement officers have

been killed in the line of duty. On average, more than 62,000 officers

are assaulted and some 20,000 are injured each year.

Tragically, the dangers of law enforcement service are increasing. From

1960 to 1993, the number of violent crimes in America increased 567 percent.

In the past 10 years, it increased 51 percent. During 1993, more than 1.9

million violent crimes—murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults—were reported to police. And our police responded.

Despite the rising tide of crime, good and brave men and women continue

to join the ranks of law enforcement. Today, more than 600,000 sworn

officers work every day to preserve the peace and improve the safety of

cities and towns across America. These heroic individuals and their fallen

colleagues come from many different backgrounds. But they are linked by

a common faith—that freedom is worth defending and that justice shall

prevail. For those who died to uphold these ideals and for those who

still stand to protect them, we salute America’s law enforcement officials.

The Congress, by a joint resolution approved October 1, 1962 (76 Stat.

676), has authorized and requested the President to designate May 15 of

each year as ‘‘Peace Officers Memorial Day,’’ and the week in which it

falls as ‘‘Police Week,’’ and by Public Law 103–322 (36 U.S.C. 175) has

requested that the flag be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial

Day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, do hereby proclaim May 15, 1995, as Peace Officers Memorial

Day, and May 14–20, 1995, as Police Week. I call upon the people of

the United States to observe this occasion with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. I also request the Governors of the United States

and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of

all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on

Peace Officers Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels

throughout the United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction and

control, and I invite the people of the United States to display the flag

at half-staff from their homes on that day.
26340 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 95 / Wednesday, May 17, 1995 / Presidential Documents

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day

of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and

of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred

[FR Doc. 95–12290

Filed 5-15-95; 2:38 pm]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and nineteenth.

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