National Police Week Reminds Us Why Our Museum is a Necessity


Our staff have been fully consumed this month with National Police Week events. Historically, Police Week has been a Memorial event that draws thousands of law enforcement officers and their families to Washington each May.
A cornerstone of Police Week is the somber task of honoring our fallen law enforcement heroes by adding their names to our Memorial and dedicating them during our annual candlelight vigil.
This year was a bit different. While the serious task of remembering those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice has not changed, something else has. For the first time, many of you had the opportunity to see the dream of a National Law Enforcement Museum slowly become a reality. Many of you also had the opportunity to tour the Museum construction site and see first-hand the results of years of planning, dreaming and fundraising to build the nation’s first museum dedicated to the history of American law enforcement.
I know too, that like many of you, this Museum is a real source of pride. The Museum building, aptly situated on Judiciary Square and adjacent to the Memorial, is an impressive structure. The hard work, commitment and tenacity that the Museum team has put forth to curate a world-class collection of objects and to develop immersive, interactive exhibits to engage visitors of all ages is unmatched.
It is through the dedication of supporters like you that this Museum is no longer a dream but rather a dream come true. I believe we have created a Museum that appropriately showcases the proud history of American law enforcement. It is a museum that sits surrounded by the Smithsonian Museums, some of our country’s most treasured landmarks and is a building befitting of a museum in the nation’s capital.