[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 1995)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26339-26340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12290]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 95 / Wednesday, May 17, 1995 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President  
[[Page 26339]] 
                Proclamation 6800 of May 15, 1995

                
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1995

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Each year, we pause to remember and to honor the brave 
                men and women whose heartfelt commitment to the law and 
                to their fellow citizens cost them their lives. During 
                1994, we lost 56 law enforcement officers to on-duty 
                accidents. Seventy-six officers--72 State and local 
                police and four Federal agents--were murdered. Thirty-
                three of these officers were wearing body armor when 
                they were killed. All but one were killed with a 
                firearm. Three were gunned down inside police 
                headquarters in our Nation's capital.

                America's law enforcement officers face extraordinary 
                risks--breaking up a drug ring, apprehending a 
                fugitive, responding to an incident of domestic 
                violence, even making a traffic stop. Since the first 
                recorded police death in this country in 1794, more 
                than 13,500 law enforcement officers have been killed 
                in the line of duty. On average, more than 62,000 
                officers are assaulted and some 20,000 are injured each 
                year.

                Tragically, the dangers of law enforcement service are 
                increasing. From 1960 to 1993, the number of violent 
                crimes in America increased 567 percent. In the past 10 
                years, it increased 51 percent. During 1993, more than 
                1.9 million violent crimes--murders, rapes, robberies, 
                and assaults--were reported to police. And our police 
                responded.

                Despite the rising tide of crime, good and brave men 
                and women continue to join the ranks of law 
                enforcement. Today, more than 600,000 sworn officers 
                work every day to preserve the peace and improve the 
                safety of cities and towns across America. These heroic 
                individuals and their fallen colleagues come from many 
                different backgrounds. But they are linked by a common 
                faith--that freedom is worth defending and that justice 
                shall prevail. For those who died to uphold these 
                ideals and for those who still stand to protect them, 
                we salute America's law enforcement officials.

                The Congress, by a joint resolution approved October 1, 
                1962 (76 Stat. 676), has authorized and requested the 
                President to designate May 15 of each year as ``Peace 
                Officers Memorial Day,'' and the week in which it falls 
                as ``Police Week,'' and by Public Law 103-322 (36 
                U.S.C. 175) has requested that the flag be flown at 
                half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 15, 
                1995, as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and May 14-20, 
                1995, as Police Week. I call upon the people of the 
                United States to observe this occasion with appropriate 
                programs, ceremonies, and activities. I also request 
                the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth 
                of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all 
                units of government, to direct that the flag be flown 
                at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day on all 
                buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the 
                United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction 
                and control, and I invite the people of the United 
                States to display the flag at half-staff from their 
                homes on that day.
                [[Page 26340]] IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 
                my hand this fifteenth day of May, in the year of our 
                Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and nineteenth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 95-12290
Filed 5-15-95; 2:38 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P