Raleigh, Wake County honor fallen officers during National Police Week ceremony

Raleigh and Wake County marked the start of National Police Week by honoring 25 fallen law enforcement officers at Hayes Barton Baptist Church, a memorial that tied the city’s public safety agencies to the county’s long record of loss and service.

The ceremony was held at 10:30 a.m. and brought together the Raleigh Police Department and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, which serves the unincorporated areas of the county. The observance gave the community a way to remember officers whose deaths changed families, colleagues and the neighborhoods they protected, while placing that sacrifice in a visible local setting rather than a distant national one.

City facilities and downtown buildings were lit in blue during the week, turning the tribute into something Raleigh residents could see across the city. WRAL’s tower also glowed blue in support. The lighting added a public layer to the memorial, extending the remembrance beyond the church and into the skyline.

National Police Week has been observed since President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 proclamation, and it includes Peace Officers Memorial Day on May 15, a day set aside to honor officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. In Washington, D.C., the week’s central memorial events continue to anchor the national observance, but in Wake County the focus stayed close to home, on the officers whose names remain part of the area’s civic memory.

Raleigh Police Department said it would observe National Police Week May 12 to 18. Last year, the department’s memorial ceremony at Hayes Barton Baptist Church honored 23 fallen law enforcement officers from across Wake County, with their names, departments and end-of-watch dates formally recognized. The increase to 25 honorees this year underscored how the county’s memorial roll continues to grow and why the annual gathering still matters.

The Raleigh Police Memorial Foundation began its work in 2009 to make a permanent memorial a reality, and that promise was fulfilled with the dedication of the Raleigh Police Memorial on April 25, 2015, at the entrance to the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex. For Wake County, the ceremony at Hayes Barton Baptist Church and the blue-lit buildings around Raleigh turned remembrance into a civic act, one that linked public safety, family grief and community gratitude in the same week.