Our team at Thin Blue Line USA was beyond excited about heading to Washington, D.C. for Police Week 2019. For many of us, it wasn’t our first trip to Police Week but it was going to be a different one because of all the new highlights we added to our plans. One of the biggest highlights at the event was our friend, Alex Douglass, who joined us this year. Alex is a State Trooper who was wounded in the line of Duty in 2014 during an ambush shooting outside his barracks in Pennsylvania. You can hear more about his story in the video called Behind the Blue and in the blog post found on our website called No One Fights Alone. You can also watch Alex in the Facebook live video recorded on May 14 where I interviewed him during Police Week. Our camera crew shot footage of Alex and some of his fellow members from the non-profit organization called Operation Enduring Warriors, while they were holding a ruck tour around the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. They were carrying flags and wearing rucksacks on their backs showing their support for the fallen law enforcement officers at the police memorial.
We met so many wonderful people during Police Week, some of the officers came from all around the world to pay their respects at the memorial for our fallen brothers and sisters. We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with so many of them and to capture some very special highlights from our visit. You can watch them in the video here: Police Week. Our blue line families mean a lot to us and we thought it was important to have them share their stories. We invited them to our photo booth where we took their pictures and listened to their stories. Some of their stories moved us to tears where others made us laugh out loud. We traded coins and many officers gave us their department patches, which we have displayed so proudly in our warehouse. It was an emotional visit and a reminder of why this event is so important to our great nation. We believe it is important to remember to honor and pay tribute to those officers and agents who have made the ultimate sacrifice to make our nation and all her citizens safer and more secure.
Police Week was established many years ago when President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation in 1962 designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Every year there are tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from all over the world who come together in Washington, DC to participate in events such as the annual Blue Mass, Police Unity Tour, the Candlelight Vigil, and Police Week Tent City. Tent City is where you can find us every year, working hard at our booth and spreading good cheer. If you plan on attending Police Week in 2020 (May 13-15), please come visit us and have some fun. We will make sure you feel right at home.
For more information about National Police Week, please click here.
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Linda Searles
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