[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26201-26202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12556]



[[Page 26199]]

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Part IX





The President





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Proclamation 7000--Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1997

Proclamation 7001--Jewish Heritage Week, 1997
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 91 / Monday, May 12, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 26201]]

                Proclamation 7000 of May 7, 1997

                
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Law enforcement officers are true heroes, quietly 
                risking their lives every day to protect our public 
                safety and private property. The routine, everyday 
                nature of their courage makes it all the more 
                extraordinary. Day and night, these brave men and women 
                leave home, put on their badges, and report for duty, 
                putting their lives on the line for the rest of us.

                Today, an estimated 587,000 men and women are sworn 
                police officers, working to enforce our Nation's laws 
                and maintain order in our society. As citizens we owe 
                these officers respect and gratitude, and Police Week 
                is a welcome time for us to join together and salute 
                these officers for the selfless work they carry out so 
                faithfully all year long.

                Sadly, during Police Week we also pause, on Peace 
                Officers Memorial Day, to remember our fallen officers. 
                Last year, 117 Federal, State, and local officers were 
                killed in the line of duty. Although this number 
                dropped to the lowest level in over 30 years--and the 
                number of police officers killed by firearms alone 
                dropped to 55 from 71 the previous year--these 
                statistics, compiled by the National Law Enforcement 
                Officers Memorial Fund, remain a cause for great 
                concern. The loss of any police officer is a tragedy, 
                and as a Nation, we mourn and remember these men and 
                women who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their 
                lives. While we can never repay the debt we owe to 
                these fallen officers and their families, we can--and 
                must--honor their memory by carrying on their crusade 
                to make America a better and safer place.

                By a joint resolution approved October 1, 1962 (76 
                Stat. 676), the Congress 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 directed 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, 
                1997, as Peace Officers Memorial Day and May 11 through 
                May 17, 1997, as Police Week. I call upon the people of 
                the United States to observe these occasions with 
                appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities. I 
                also request the Governors of the United States and of 
                the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as 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 all 
                areas under its jurisdiction and control. I also invite 
                all Americans to display the flag at half-staff from 
                their homes on that day.

[[Page 26202]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and 
                twenty-first.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-12556
Filed 5-9-97; 8:47 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P