ROANOKE — This week is National Police Week and departments from across the region will gather together during the annual Roanoke Valley Law Enforcement Memorial Service to honor and remember the officers who have died in the line of duty while serving their communities.
This year’s event will be held at St. John Lutheran Church in Roanoke County at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 18.
“We are honored and humbled to invite our Roanoke Valley community members to join us so we may pause and remember the fallen law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for us all. We honor these brave heroes, as well as their families, friends and the fellow officers they left behind,” said event chair Craig Harris, chief of police for Virginia Western Community College. “We owe a debt to these men and women because their commitment to protecting others cost them their lives.”
More than 10 agencies will be represented at the memorial service that annually pays tribute to officers from across the Commonwealth and here at home who have died in the line of duty since 1892. Those agencies are:
- Carilion Clinic Police Department
- City of Roanoke Police Department
- City of Roanoke Sheriff’s Office
- City of Salem Police Department
- City of Salem Sheriff’s Office
- County of Roanoke Sheriff’s Office
- Roanoke – Blacksburg Regional Airport Police Department
- Town of Vinton Police Department
- Virginia State Police
- Virginia Western Police Department
-The Salem Times-Register