[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 94 (Friday, May 15, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27191-27192]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13205]



[[Page 27189]]

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Part V





The President





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Proclamation 7095--Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1998
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 94 / Friday, May 15, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 27191]]

                Proclamation 7095 of May 12, 1998

                
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This week a grateful Nation pauses to honor the more 
                than half a million dedicated law enforcement officers 
                across our country who put their lives on the line each 
                day to protect us. These courageous and dedicated men 
                and women daily wage the timeless battle for right over 
                wrong, peace over conflict, and the rule of law over 
                anarchy.

                We ask a great deal of our Federal, State, and local 
                police officers. We ask them to stand between us and 
                the forces of violence and chaos. We ask them to 
                protect our homes and property and to save our lives at 
                the risk of their own. We ask them to patrol our 
                highways and our borders, to keep our children safe 
                from drug dealers and gang leaders, and to bring to 
                justice the murderers, terrorists, rapists, and other 
                criminals who prey on our society. We lean heavily on 
                this thin blue line, and it never breaks.

                Last year, in carrying out their awesome 
                responsibilities, 158 law enforcement officers lost 
                their lives--and the lives of their families and 
                friends were changed forever. After several years of 
                decreased violence against our law enforcement 
                community, we face the sobering reality that police 
                officer fatalities rose 27 percent during 1997.

                As we honor these heroes--those who still live and work 
                among us, and those who have made the ultimate 
                sacrifice for our well-being--let us reaffirm our 
                efforts to end the violence that has taken such a heavy 
                toll on our Nation's law enforcement community. Let us 
                work to ensure that America's police officers have the 
                training, resources, manpower, and community support 
                they need to carry out the crucial responsibilities 
                with which we charge them. In this way we can best 
                honor the service and sacrifice of the thousands of 
                fallen police officers whose memory we honor and whose 
                devotion to duty has earned our respect and lasting 
                gratitude.

                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, 
                1998, as Peace Officers Memorial Day and May 10 through 
                May 16, 1998, 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 of the United States 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 27192]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-13205
Filed 5-14-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P