LITTLE ROCK - Nearly 300 Arkansas law-enforcement officers have died in the line of duty, and Governor Asa Hutchinson heard some of their stories first-hand this week as he attended memorial services for fallen officers during National Police Week.
The Arkansas flag flew half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day as part of the state’s week-long tribute to the service and memory of the 295 Arkansas law-enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.
“The work of law enforcement officers involves more risk than most of us realize,” Governor Hutchinson said. “There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop, and their work is more dangerous now than at any time I can remember. I am grateful for the officers who pin on a badge and risk their lives to stand between us and danger. National Police Week is a time to remember the officers who have died to keep us safe and to remember the loved ones they left behind.”
Since the first recorded death of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty in 1791 in the United States, more than 23,000 officers have been killed. In 1962, the U.S. Congress designated May 15 each year as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which it falls as National Police Week.